he lives with his mother...

After being there for two days, we said goodbye to the lovely city of New Orleans and made our way to the sandy beaches of Pensacola, FL. We knew the beach would be a nice change of scenery from all the cities where we were spending time. It was definitely a nice change of pace to lay on a towel under sweltering sun for a few hours.

It started to get cloudy around late afternoonish, so we spent some time in a little cabana bar.

We ended up having an awesome conversation with the bartender: a forty-something man who is divorced and living with his mother. To the world's standard, this man is a failure. In God's eyes, he is a beloved child. The most amazing thing, to me, was the story of his mother. This man's mother has severe dementia and is not on any medication. The sickness makes her mean, forgetful, and just a completely different person. He could have put her in a home...he could have dumped her at a relative's house...but he chose to lovingly take his mother in and care for her. Every day. After his divorce, he went through a serious depression in which he did not work for SIX YEARS. Deciding he had basically no purpose in life, and wondering whether it was worth it to live at all, he took his mom in...hoping that caring for her would give him purpose. And it surely did...whether he receives the recognition and praise for his selflessness every day is doubtful. But I truly believe the Lord has a crown for him.

This man is not a Christian; he's not sure what he believes. (Perfect opportunity to share God's love, right?) So Val and I talked to him about the hope of God. The hope of Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of our messy past and the potential for a beautiful future. I'm not sure when the seeds will sprout into a strong faith, but I know they were planted. God will do the rest, and I'm pretty confident in Him. :)

Oh! Little side-note of God's faithfulness and provision...we had literally $20 left to spend for our road trip and weren't sure how we were going to afford food for 3 more days. But God is faithful and the bartender bought us lunch that day! AND the manager gave us a gift certificate for lunch the next day! Two meals for free? Thanks God.