Real Like Bob

Last weekend Hershy, Nick, and I went to Mugswigs in Canton for some amazing coffee. They'd been talking about it since staff training and we finally found the time to go. David, and I had gone to Nick's house before hand to climb the silo and watch the sunset; however, the clouds didn't cooperate and so the sunset was blocked from our view. So after watching a plane land, we went to the airport and checked out some mega cool planes. David wasn't up for coffee so we dropped in off at camp and met up with Hershy at Mugswigs around 10:30pm. The place was packed so we all went and played with the giant marble ball thing in Canton and then got our coffee. Since the place was still full, we took our drinks to go and wondered around Canton. We ended up in a random green patch with picnic tables so we sat down. Twenty minutes later a 39 year old man walked up to us and sat down at the table. Over the next two hours we talked to this man about politics, drugs and his experiences with them, sex, his job, and all kinds of things going on in his life and Canton. Before he left I asked him if we could pray with him. He looked quite surprised and said that he didn't know that we were that type of people and how he was so sorry that he'd been cussing so much, etc. We reassured him that we were not the least bit upset and after 10 more minutes of random conversations Bob brought back up the prayer and we all held hands and prayed. After we said "Amen," Bob looked at me and said "I'm going to give you a hug. Do you know why?" I replayed that I didn't and he said "Do you know why? I'll tell you after I give you a hug. I'll give you a hug first." So he gave me a hug and said "Do you know why I gave you that hug? I gave you the hug because you are the only woman who has every really listened to what I said." In my prayer I had repeated some of the things which he had told us and it proved to Bob that I was listening and actually cared. He picked at a Coach key chain that somebody had left on the picnic table and handed it to me saying that I was like a coach to him because I listened to him. All we did was welcome Bob's conversation and listen instead of pushing him away because he was a homeless stranger, and through us God was able to reveal His love to Bob.

I got back to camp at 4am and was stilled pumped about our time with Bob. What happened that night is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and would love to do for the rest of my life. I want to sit and be with people, on their level. To many people sit in their comfortable homes on their comfortable couches, not giving a rip about the people outside their door or in the streets. If they even see the people they brush right past them and ignore them. Excuse me, but we all deserve to be respected and listened to. Stop looking down on people who don't have all of the luxury's you have and look them in the eyes and get to know their hearts. Everybody is hurting in this world, the least we can do is share God's love while we walk with each other down path of life. Besides who wants to spend life walking down a road alone?

Please remember Bob in your prayers as he doesn't yet know Jesus.

God Bless,
Brooke Gugel