Dinner with James

This has been one of the best, very interesting, eye-awakening, weekends. First let me say, I had a wonderful weekend with my husband. We always have a great time when the kids are with us, but this past weekend we seemed to truly enjoy each other and the time we spent together. Friday night we went to dinner and saw some friends while we were out. We had a great time talking with them and dinner was great! Saturday Brett played golf with friends and I hung out and had a little "me" time...which is important for everyone. When he got home, we worked around the yard. We decided we would get dressed and go out to dinner. Literally, as we were driving toward Abuelos, Brett mentioned a new restaurant that he had heard about from one of the guys playing golf. You have to understand...we are creatures of habit. We never try new restaurants because we like our "favorites" too much. But not this time. We were feeling adventurous. So we headed to this new place (which I'll leave anonymous). Once there, Brett ran into someone he knew. He knows someone everywhere we go! haha Right off the bat, we loved the place. Server was great, they have more beer than Tapwerks, and their food was awesome!!! We had been sitting there about 30 minutes and in walks Bob Stoops. We laughed and said we guessed we were in the right place. I thought if we were going to go to a new place, I was going out on a limb and wanted to try new things. I had a Raspberry Cream and Banana Bread beer. They were the best i had ever tasted. We had been there about an hour and had just started eating our food (sandwiches and sweet potato fries)...when in walked James. James sat at the table next to us...which was a table for six. It was an awkward moment because I felt like everyone in the place stopped what they were doing and stared at him. You see, James was a homeless man. He had dirty hair, a huge hoop earring in one ear, a large gash over his nose (we were sure it was broken), dirty clothes and was obviously lit. Not sure if it was beer or drugs...but he wasn't all there. He hung his head and just sat there. Our sever walked up and asked if he would like a water or pepsi...he only had $2. He turned to say something to Brett and it was like the whole place went silent and looked at us. For some odd reason this was a very surreal moment. I felt like time almost stopped. Brett scooted over and started talking to him. As he was talking, a gentleman walked out from the back and leaned over and said, "we're going to have to ask you to leave." Brett looked up and said, "well, we have a problem then. I'm buying James dinner and a pepsi." The gentleman said that was fine, but no alcohol. For the next 30 minutes or so, we spoke to James, shook his hand or hugged him about a dozen times, and tried to let him know that we cared and wanted to talk to him. He spoke to Brett about Jesus and at one point he looked at me and said, "I don't want to offend anyone, but you're pretty." As we left, we asked James if he wanted to take our to-go box (which was half of an untouched sandwich and fries), and he said yes! We walked to the car, neither of us saying a word...and once inside, we both broke down and cried. We just sat there. Brett said he didn't feel good leaving him. I felt like everyone in that place looked at us like "what are you doing?" Maybe I'm wrong...hopefully I'm wrong. Maybe they were thinking...thank you for talking to him. I just know that no one said a word to James. On our drive home we only talked about James...how blessed "we" were to have met him. And I almost felt mad that "who am I" to think I'm any better than he is?? We don't know his story or his history. And sure, the downtown merchants have to deal with the homeless on a day-to-day basis. I know they may not have been happy that we bought him a meal or encouraged him to stay. But how do you just turn your back? What is wrong with our society today? It could be any one of us homeless at any given time. Again, there are probably circumstances we aren't aware of...all I know is that James made a huge impact on our lives. He was a kind human being and we feel very fortunate to have met him. He kept telling Brett he wanted to repay us. Brett told him the way he could repay us is to do something nice for someone else sometime. He said he promised he would.

Last...to top off a wonderful weekend, we went to Emanuel Baptist Church in Enid on Sunday. Brett's brother Wade is the pastor. This weekend William "Paul" Young, author of The Shack, was speaking at his church. I sat mesmerized as he spoke. I wish we would have gone to every service, but we only made it to one. He was incredible. When we got home from Enid, I started reading The Shack again for the second time. What a life changing book. And Paul Young was one of the nicest, most sincere people I have ever met.

What a great weekend!!