Henry

Tonight we ate dinner with Jesus, but tonight he looked like a guy named Henry.  As we were coming home from the park this afternoon, we here a guy yell out to us in English asking if we were from the states.  To make a very long story short, Henry is one half Salvadorian and one half Columbian, and he now lives in Costa Rica.  When he was 4 he moved to New York with his mom and his American step-dad.  He didn't take the steps needed to allow his US residency to continue for whatever reason.  Not doing that got him deported here to CR.  He was just asking for some money to get to where he was going to start work tomorrow.  We don't just hand out money, especially not in the  middle of the road.  The spirit moved us to invite him to walk home with us and to eat with us.  At our house, Henry showered for the first time in two weeks and ate like someone who didn't know where his next meal was going to come from (he doesn't).  We got to know Henry in the two hours he spent at our house.  He has a little girl that is 7 who he misses terribly.  Her name is faith.  Also, his mom is still in New York, but she had surgery on her back and is in the hospital.

Henry cried when we invited him for dinner.  He said people so often do not treat him like he is a real person.  He said people always come to the gate with the worst assumptions.  At dinner, we helped Haley say a prayer, then he asked if he could pray to.  In his prayer he thanked God that he was not dead and that God sent people into his life to remind him of God's love and grace for each of us.  He apologized to God for turning his back on him and vowed to walk with God again.  He said many more things in his prayer with tears streaming down his face.

Sitting here 31/2 hours after meeting Henry I am hoping that the bus fare will get him where he needs to go.  I feel in my heart that he was not just looking for money for his next fix.  As he left, he told Matt that he thought he just needed money for the bus, but he didn't know how badly he needed to sit at a table just to talk to people.  We talked about God, and we talked about life.  We talked about various Central American countries, and we talked about family. 

Before Henry left, he tried to call his mom, but couldn't get a hold of her.  A few minutes later she called and talked to me for an hour.  She was really upset.  She is in so much pain with the desire for the well-being of her son.  She cried and cried on the phone to me.

I am not writing this blog to brag about what we did, but as a reminder to not judge people as if they are less than you, but remember that each person is a creation of God and someone that he loves and we should too.  It is amazing how small acts of kindness and the love of God may be something that really changes someone's life.  Tonight, I am praying for Henry, for his daughter Faith in Boston, and his mom Cristina and his step-dad in New York.  Please join me in praying.