ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- It was about 5:30 p.m. on a very warm, Cinco de Mayo evening. I had just come out of a busy convenience store and was returning to my car, a little lost in thought.

I recalled standing in line a few moments earlier, concerned for the people in front of me who were buying vast amounts of alcohol – not just a can or two of beer, but multiple 24 packs. What sort of life were they experiencing?

I wondered if those frequent visits to a store which I have somewhat cynically nicknamed “alcohol central” to some of the guests staying at Joy Junction (the homeless shelter where I am the CEO), would eventually result in increased clientele for the shelter. You can’t drink all that booze without it having a serious effect on your financial, spiritual and emotional health.

Arriving back at my car and opening the door, I noticed a man standing on the street corner holding a sign reading, “Need Help, Any Will Do.”

I called the office at Joy Junction, and asked them to send a van to see if this individual would like a place to stay.

On some days I would have approached the man and asked him myself, but last Monday was not one of those times. It had been a difficult few days for a variety of reasons, and I felt I needed the support of some of our staff.

A few minutes later one of our vehicles came into the parking lot, bringing our van driver Mario Cordova and the shelter’s resident services manager Anna Little Hoop. We all made our way over to the sign carrying man, who smiled and greeted us as we approached him. Neither Anna or Mario recognized the man, whose name we found out was “Joe” (name changed for confidentiality).

We asked Joe how he was, and he said fine. When we told him that we were from Joy Junction, he said he had stayed at the shelter a few months ago with his wife. However, at this time he was not interested in coming back. Anna told me later it was easy to see he had a lot of things weighing heavily on his mind.

I asked Joe if he was hungry and he said he was. He wanted pizza and water, so along with Anna I went back in the store and bought him a couple of large slices and some bottled water.

As I purchased what would be supper for Joe (I suspected that it may have been all he’d had to that day), I was saddened but not surprised to see that the store was still doing a brisk trade in alcohol – both in beer and hard liquor. Tragically, this store is much better supplied with a wide variety of booze than it is with milk, orange juice and soft drinks.

We returned to Joe’s spot on the sidewalk, where he was just finishing talking to an individual stopped at the light. Joe said the man had offered him a job and would pick him up at that same spot in the morning. Joe seemed very happy.

I gave Joe the food and water, and asked him if he would like me to pray with him. Joe gladly accepted the offer, and accompanied us to the shelter bus, where we went for a refuge from the wind and the dust that was rapidly picking up pace.

As he ate, Joe talked – about a variety of issues. He told us that he had stayed at Joy Junction in January of this year, when it was much too cold to camp out safely. Joe said he was told about Joy Junction by other homeless people, and he stayed with us about four days before finding a job with living accommodations.

During one of the nights he stayed at the shelter, Joe said he attended the midweek service at Joy Junction. He seemed particularly struck by a question that Anna had asked everyone there during the service.

She had said, “What is the most important thing your parents ever told you?”

Joe said he had badly wanted to raise his hand and say what his parents had told him, but he was too shy. However, he told us what he had learned from his parents that had affected him so profoundly. It was, “Never argue in front of your children; always go into another room.”

Then Joe moved onto another subject that was obviously burdening him deeply. He told us that his heart was broken, because he and his wife had gotten into an argument over something not worth arguing about.

Joe didn’t elaborate, but he told us poignantly that this year his birthday falls on Mother’s Day, and he is hoping that he and his wife will reconcile.

Anna said later, “Whatever happened between them, you could see in his eyes that he loved her and missed his best friend.”

After talking for a few more minutes, I prayed for Joe. Then Joe asked if he could also pray. He did so very movingly. It appeared that Joe knows the Lord, because he spoke to Him as to a friend and while doing so, thanked the Lord for sending us to him.

Although Joe did not want to stay at Joy Junction that night, he didn’t want to go back to where we had first encountered him either. He wanted a ride closer to where he planned to camp out that night. I gave our driver the okay to take Joe there, a move which would hopefully help him along the way in his journey toward eventual recovery.

I asked Anna to describe her feelings about the experience. She said, “working at a homeless shelter, you never know what you’re going to be doing from one day to the next. However, situations like this remind us that God is in control. He places us exactly where we need to be, and at the exact time we need to be there. Thank You, Lord, for another opportunity to share your love. Be safe, Joe, and happy birthday.”

My Take

It would be easy to write Joe off and dismiss him as a panhandler unworthy of help. Such an attitude is, I believe, displeasing to the Lord.

Tragically, I suspect many people have written Joe off, and I am sure that many more will continue to do so. However, the fact remains that Joe is a human being loved by the Lord and created in His image.

If Jesus were alive today physically on earth, I believe that He would have reached out to Joe with food and a message of tender, loving care. If we claim to be His children, how can we do any less?

With that in mind, will you reach out to those in need around you with the message of Christ’s love?

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "The Face of Homelessness." Additional details are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.