The Veteran Traveler
He was on the side of the I-95 on ramp. Standing there. Waiting. His name is Joseph, he's 72, and once served our country as a Marine. He looked quite misplaced standing there with his suitcase and PING hat, so we decided to pull over and see what we could do for him. He just needed a ride 2 miles North. But what he was planning on doing once he got there was unsuspecting and quite disheartening. Joseph is from Atlanta and is in Florida for a series of medical tests stemming from his pacemaker surgery paired with a future knee replacement. His treatments and testings at the Veteran's Hospital were originally scheduled to last one week, but has since turned into a three week fiasco that's drained his bank account completely dry. When we picked him up, he had $41 left to his name and because he couldn't afford the $64 hotel stay that he'd been living in for the past month, he was hitchhiking to a better part of town to find some cardboard to sleep on for the night. Something he never dreamed of having to do. When we got him into the truck, his hands were chilled and shaking. We turned back to the direction of his small hotel and put him up for another night. Tomorrow he's supposed to be getting paid, and Joseph said that in a few more days, he'll be able to go home. By bus. Because his poor eyesight disables him from passing the DMV test.
This is the second time this week that I've personally been met with the plight of the homeless. And it tears my heart into pieces. It was today that I broke down, devastated by the vast brokenness of this world, and wanting, really wanting to use what's been entrusted to me to better serve God's Kingdom.
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