Joyce's story (Bryan, Emily, Joyce)

Post date: Jun 12, 2011 2:27:24 AM

Bryan, Emily and I met our guest at McDonald's for dinner. For over an hour, he shared a lot of interesting stories from his past. He has lived in Massachusetts, Georgia and other states in the South. At one point, he had moved in with his grandmother to help take care of her needs. However, she was senile at the time, and she called the cops on him a few times. He had to call his uncle about it and eventually moved away from the situation. During Hurricane Katrina in 2006, he lived in one of the states affected by the hurricane. It was a new experience for him.

We asked about his faith background, and he said that he went to the Seventh Day Adventist Church when he was young. His mother encouraged him to pray in any situation he found himself in. One story of when he prayed to God was when his cousin told him about a pretty multi-colored turtle that could be found in a marsh/river near their house. Though he couldn't swim, he wanted the turtle so badly that he went out into the river, felt himself in deep water, and called out to God. He said he somehow shot out of the water, and his pet dog came in the water so that he could grab onto the dog's tail and hold on till he was safely ashore.

More recently, since living in Thousand Oaks, he has had a couple jobs in the area. For now, he volunteers to help at the Lutheran Social Services from time to time. He feels that he's not the only one struggling, and there are many other people he can still help. He has diabetes, and has been given insulin for 3 years now. The first year, he was couldn't get past the queasiness of injecting himself with the insulin, so he wasn't getting the treatment he needed. This led to a worsening condition, which pushed him to muster up what it took to inject the needle for the sake of his health.

Bryan shared a piece of his testimony and made the connection that it's often the case that trials lead us to wake up and look to God. He asked our guest what his relationship with God was like. He answered that he has a good relationship with God, that he likes to help people, and that his mother taught him to pray (which he learned from the experience of nearly drowning.) We mentioned the importance of prayer and also Bible study in relating to God. As our conversation was coming to an end, we invited him to our church and to our lunch. Homeless Ministry will be paying for his new eyeglasses to aid his vision, which has been blurred due to diabetes. Sharing a meal together really gave us a chance to get to know him more.

- Joyce