The Homeless Kid

As I was taking out the trash, I hoped that a homeless person would find our empty water bottles. A hurricane was approaching our islands and well, we had no choice but to clear our balcony of the bottles. We don’t recycle them ourselves. We give them to others to bless them. Being that four of us live in a tiny one bedroom apartment, there wasn’t much space for all those bottles. And there was no one to give them to, except maybe a homeless person.

I then saw a young homeless kid, about high school age. He had just finished looking through our trash cans.. And he had bags of empty bottles on his bike. He was riding off to our neighbors trash cans. I ran with my kids with me and said, “Excuse me, would you like more bottles?” He looked at me with genuine eyes and said, “Yeah! Wow yes that would be great, thank you.” I turned to head back and saw my neighbor, Rain, who is about 15 years old. I asked him, “He’s not crazy right? I have my babies with me and there’s just us outside here”.  And he said, “No, he’s not. He’s my friend.” I asked if he was homeless and Rain softly said yes. My heart shattered. I told Rain that I’d be right back, and would gather lots of food and drink for him too. Rain looked like he was going to cry and thanked me.

I ran upstairs with my babies and filled two large trash bags with empty bottles and a Target bag full of new non perishable foods… Foods such as cereal, poptarts, peanut butter, fresh bread, canned goods, coconut water. And I knew in my heart… deep down… The Lord wanted him to be blessed with a Bible and prayer.

As we rushed down to meet with this homeless boy, Rain grabbed the bags from me.. Everything was really heavy.  I had my son in the baby carrier, was holding my daughters hand and everything else in the other hand.

Rain gave him the bags, the boy was so thankful. I handed him a brand new Action Bible. The Action Bible is a Bible that is in a comic book format. Very colorful,  adventurous to read, easy to understand.  As the boy took the Bible.. He enthusiastically said that he knew him, that he sees him everyday. I didn’t know if he meant a friend, pastor… or Jesus? I then asked if it was okay to pray. I was surprised..  Rain and the boy quickly opened their hands ~ so that we could all hold hands and pray.  It was so sweet – how open their hearts were. The Holy Spirit was powerful. As I prayed, the boy was in agreement with the words of life.  He would also talk with the Lord. Waves of joy and hope swept over us.

We prayed over not just the weather-related hurricane, but hurricanes that can be in our hearts too. And we praised God. The Lord will always provide and love on us. He is with us and will bring us such a reward for all our good fights. He has a home for us as his children, one that this world can’t give.. Better than anything this world can give.

After the prayer, the boy hugged me. I learned that his name was Kai. He said he was sorry to keep me since I had my two babies, commented on how beautiful they were. And then expressed that he was so thankful. As I turned back to walk home with the kids, he shouted “Thank you so much Mel!!!! Thank you Mel!” And he rode off on his bike.

I was touched that he remembered my name.🙂  He probably doesn’t know it, but he blessed my heart so much.

My heart loves to help the homeless and the poor. I can really feel God’s heart for them.

And I do believe sometimes they can be tests from God.

A few years ago, my husband Clarence and I finished eating dinner at a Korean restaurant. We had lots of leftovers, two whole plates I believe. As we opened the restaurant door to head to our car, I saw an old homeless man. He smiled at me. It was a wonderful smile, full of light. I offered him our food and he said, “Kamsahamnida”. That means thank you in Korean. The man didn’t even look Korean.. But the Lord knows I love to speak in Korean to others.  He took the food and smiled a bigger smile.  And oh my heart, his eyes… they glowed and twinkled.  I said, “Cheonmaneyo”. That means you’re welcome.

We walked a few steps back to our car and turned to say goodbye to the man. There was nothing but the night sky and the restaurant. He was gone. Clarence and I looked at each other in shock. Where could he have gone so fast? He really was gone. It began to rain and we looked for him. It was an open area, how could he just disappear? As we got in our car, I told my husband that I believe strongly in my heart… that the man was an angel.💛

Does God test us with homeless people? Maybe you can help them and see for yourself.

With Kai, my motherhood spirit really took over. I thought ~ he is someone’s baby. He is someone’s son. What if that were my son out there right before a hurricane was coming? The good news is… the hurricane broke apart and we are just having some wind.

Kai is God’s son. We are God’s children. Whether homeless, crammed in a one bedroom like my family, or rich. We are all created to be here at this time on earth together. To help one another, build each other up, to praise God.

Many people turn their noses on the homeless.. They assume they are always mental or on drugs. And many are… Just today my 10 month old son was playing outside of our home.. And a homeless lady yelled and sweared at him to be quiet. She was going on and on…. She was walking across the street from where we live. My husband told her in a silly way, “Shaddduuuup”. And for the very first time, our daughter said a bad word… She copied her dad and said, “Shaddduuup”. In other words, “shut up”.  I didn’t get upset ~ my husband was standing up for our son, as was our daughter for her baby brother. As the lady walked further away, our 3 year old girl yelled… “Bye! Love you!” And then told me, “She didn’t say byebye! Awwww. No bye.” Then she yelled, “Jesus love you!”🤣💕

So yes there are homeless that aren’t always safe to be around. But there are many who really are open to finding their way.  It’s people like us that can really inspire them and help.

And there are some who may just be angels sent from God. How much more can we be blessed than by meeting one of God’s angels?

Can I encourage you… Pray for our homeless, do what you can to bless them.  Make the best out of helping those who truly need it.

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies” (Psalm 36:5)  The Lord loves us all, he is so so faithful.  He also watches our faithfulness and calls us to be ambassadors of love.  The power of this always wins.  With faith and love.. it is much more than just good works in this temporary fading away life.. We are actually building up things for our heavenly eternal home.

Our glorious forever home is in God’s kingdom, not here.💛