On Wednesday of this last week Kenz & I went to hangout at a coffee shop in Gainesville, GA.
We were sitting in a couple chairs closest to the front door.
Around noon, I looked up from what I was reading right when a man who looked to be in his 70’s or so was grabbing his coffee from the pick up counter beside me.
We immediately looked at one another.
I smiled & waved at him.
He smiled & waved back.
I said “hope you have a great day.”
He smiled again & continued to walk out the front doors of the coffee shop with his coffee in his hand.
I went right back to reading what I was reading & didn’t think anything of it.
About 10 minutes later, that same man walked back in through the front doors of the coffee shop & walked over to us.
He had a big smile on his face as he looked me in the eyes and told me how much he appreciated my kindness towards him!
We ended up sitting there together and talking for a few minutes, about the weather and how nice of a day it was. He told us that this is one of his favorite coffee spots in town and asked if we come here often. We told him we weren’t from here and how we’re just here for a week of training for a mission trip we’ll be on these next 4 months where we’ll be traveling the US sharing the love of Jesus.
He didn’t really acknowledge anything we had said about it. And he pretty quickly changed the subject & then wished us a happy day as he walked back towards the front doors.
He still had a big smile on his face as he looked back and said “it was so nice to meet you girls today”
I looked at Kenz and said “How sweet was that!”
Kenz looked over at me and said something along the lines of “how cool that is if nothing else, at least that man will equate the kindness he felt from you to the love of Jesus that we talked to him about”
Three days later, Amy (our squad mentor) asked Kenz & I if we could meet her up at the AIM base.
We originally thought that she could pick us up from the house we were staying at, because we didn’t have a car. But due to some things going on that day, she asked us to try and get ourselves to the office. She told us she could shift some things on her end to come get us if we really needed.
We knew we could easily Uber there, because it’s only about 20 minutes away. But selfishly I found myself annoyed in the moment and thought to myself, why can’t she just come get us… honestly I really wasn’t wanting to spend my personal money on a ride when I was expecting a free one. hahaha.
But we talked it through and decided it was best to go ahead and order an Uber.
When we got a notification that the car was here, we walked outside to look for it & saw that the same man we met in the coffee shop was sitting in the driver seat!
I let out a giddy little scream because I just knew – this was not a coincidence!!! 🙂
As we got in the car I immediately started asking the Lord how he wanted to use us on this drive.
I sat in the back, Kenz was up front in the passenger seat and throughout the ride I was interceding and asking the Lord to reach this man in a powerful way.
We asked him a few questions like how work’s going and what he likes to do for fun around Gainesville, etc. Somehow those questions sparked something in him to share stories of the hardships and trials of his life, as he put it himself, his “reckless past.”
He spoke openly about his experiences with homelessness, alcohol and drugs, and brought up how lucky he feels to still be alive today. He said at one point, “all I want now is peace and harmony in this world”
Honestly throughout the drive, Kenz and I did pretty little talking at all, because he was so open to share stories with us.
As much as I wanted to dig in deeper and ask him follow up questions to the stories he was sharing, I felt God saying to me, “I just want you to listen to him. He needs to feel heard”
& then I started thinking about how back in the coffee shop, perhaps what made him turn around and come back in was that when I smiled and waved at him, he simply felt seen.
Basically, God was reminding me in that car ride that every one desires to be seen and known and heard and loved. and I wanted to do everything I could to make this man feel a little piece of that.
Anyways, after about 20 minutes of driving, we pulled up to the AIM office.
When we got there, he asked us what this location was & we got to share with him a little bit about Adventures In Missions and The World Race and how we’re getting ready to leave to go love on people here in America.
He kinda smiled, nodded up and down, and said “thats really good”
Before we got out of the car, Kenz said “we’ll be praying for you” and asked if there was anything specific he needed prayer over. He went ahead and said yes although he looked a little unsure.
I felt God telling me to pray for Him before we got out of the car, so I went ahead and asked if I could pray for him right there.
He said YES !!!
And yall…
After I prayed over him, I looked up and he had tears flowing down his face. He was weeping.
He looked up and through the tears, he told us to be careful out there & that he was so thankful he met us!
I truly don’t know what that prayer or that conversation did for him internally, or even what seeds were planted through that encounter. What I do know is God is very much so at work here in America and that He wants everyone to know His love for them.
I also know that the reality is that these days are really hard for a lot of people.
If there’s anything you take away from this blog, I pray it’s this truth: The Lord loves you. He sees you. He hears you. He knows you. fully and completely.
I also encourage you to take time out of each day to really look at those around you. Kindness is so important, especially in hard days like these. and even if your kindness goes unrecognized or unappreciated, I firmly believe it’s making an impact in the Kingdom.
Sending all of you a big smile and a big wave!!! 🙂
