“Do you know who I am?”, he asked.
“You’re Mikey,” I said. His hospital bracelet corroborated the name.
“Yes, that’s right,” he said. “But do you know who I am?”
“Who are you, Mikey?”
Mikey smiled. “I’m God’s son,” he said.
I first met Mikey at a sprawling park near Harlingen, Texas. Even though I wasn’t hungry I had bought a sandwich and decided to go to the park for some solitude. I walked to a picnic table and sat down under a pavilion near a small playground. I could see my teammates Tara and Jenessa in the distance, but I was essentially alone. I got out my Bible and started to read.
Then Mikey arrived.
He was walking the sidewalk along the highway when he saw me. He turned and began walking straight toward me, almost as if he knew me, as if he were meeting with me. His hair was graying blond and shoulder-length, and his eyes were crystal blue.
He sat down across from me at the picnic table. Everything in me should have logically panicked. But I was calm. It was almost as though I had been expecting him, a stranger whom I had never met before. He started telling me about his life. He was homeless. He told me about the cities he loved (Austin, TX) and the cities it’ll take you 4 days to bum a cigarette from a homeless person (Tulsa, OK). He regaled me with stories of life on the streets. Never once did he ask me for money.
Something I learned in training camp and have been processing through here is that everyone wants to be heard. Everyone yearns to have a voice that is appreciated. Everyone wants to have a home. And so as I sat on that picnic table across from Mikey, I could hear God telling me to listen to him. To hear him, and ask him questions. To care about his life and to be interested in who he was. Because God is in all those things, and God cares about all those things.
And so we chatted for about 45 minutes, neither one of us with a place to go. He described how the angels looked to him, and that they dwell in light brighter than the brightest sunlight. He told me that he knows who he is and where he’s going. I shared the sandwich I had bought (curiously it now had a purpose) and we laughed as we did.
When it came time for me to go, he told me he’ll see me again someday. I hope he’s right.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All
the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then
the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by
my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world. For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you
gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then
the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:31-40
