A Mystical Moment

Friday I went to the food line at Romaine and Sycamore in Hollywood.  As I was waiting for the food truck to arrive, the man who runs the Meals on Wheels announces that he is short volunteers.  He asks for volunteers and then looks right at me and asks me if I would serve.  Truly it is better to serve than to be served.  I felt special.  I felt chosen.

As I was serving the homeless, the poor and many of my new found friends as I am in the similar predicament, I saw a friend of mine who had just been released from being incarcerated for his violent behavior.  I let him know how much I had missed him and how good it was to see him again.  After I was done serving, I joined my friend and had dinner with him.  The rest of my friends that I had gone to the food line had come and gone.  I looked forward to seeing them on Sunday at Food on Foot.

My friend started by telling me that he could see light around me.  He felt safe to talk to me.  For the next seven hours, my friend would unleash hours and hours of unbridled pain and anguish that he has been in for many years.  I felt like I had two angels on each of my shoulders.  One angel was Jay from Food on Foot who would shout in my right ear and tell me to LISTEN every time I wanted to offer a word of advice.  I remained silent.  On the other shoulder, Silvana from Food on Foot would whisper in my left ear just to LOVE and not be judgmental.  The entire evening and into the early morning, I listened and loved my friend.  It was mystical.  It was magical.  It was a divine moment when I knew that God was using me as his vessel.

The moral of the story.  My friend thanked me SO much for how I convinced him to not kill the person who wronged him.  He no longer planned on killing him nor did he plan on beating him up so bad where he would be beyond recognition.  All I did was LISTEN and LOVE.  For me, this was a real life story of being part of the Butterfly Effect!

I won First Prize at Food on Foot today.  However, seeing Wayne get his prize for being in the program for 25 weeks, and Margarito graduating from the Gray shirt program and giving a Gray shirt to Lee Dunlap touched my heart so much more.  Knowing that my friend who lives in constant darkness and believes he is demon possessed was able to see the light of Jesus Christ around me leads me to believe that "He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it."

Thank you for letting me share this mystical moment with you!