I Just Want a Cup of Soup

“Sir, what are you doing?” I approached a man who was trying to steal our broom from the truck.
“What do you mean?”
“That’s our broom” I replied.
“Oh, I just want a hot cup of soup, this is yours? Oh I’m sorry… why are you so nice to me?”
I slowly walked him over to our Mobile Resource Center, where we were serving soup. “What’s your name?” “Andy.” Confused why I was being so nice to him, he again asked me why I was there. This opened the door to a conversation where I explained how we were there to pray for people and show them God’s love. He smirked as I mentioned God and then began sharing how he knew God cares about him and has kept him on this earth even when he tried to kill himself. He shared how he had planned to jump onto the subway tracks but something kept him back, he knew that God was after his life. As he was sharing this, something inside of me got excited because I knew that Andy was the one I was to meet that night!

Our Truck on the Corner of 36th & 8th Ave

“Well, Andy… you want to know something? On our way here, we were praying for those we will meet… and my friend and I specifically felt that we were going to meet someone who was suicidal and needed hope. We prayed for you and God has us here on this corner to meet you.” Of course, this made Andy mad because he was trying hard to run away from God. Throughout the night, Andy shared little bits and pieces of his life story and would intersperse it with comments about how good our soup was or joke about how he wanted our broom so he could use it for drum sticks.

At one point, Andy let me pray with him about his anger because he feared he was going to hurt someone. This opened the door to another conversation as I felt God show me a picture of his childhood and something that he had gone through. I asked him about the picture and he confirmed that it was true and that when he would share it with others they did not believe him. Of course, at this point, I am amazed to see the length that God would go to show Andy how much He cares and began speaking truth over Andy. As I started sharing what I felt were “core lies” he had received from his childhood, you could see the struggle to believe it. Deep down Andy knew it was true but did not want to turn his back on those who caused him this pain. Our conversation eventually led elsewhere and after three cups of soup, Andy was ready to leave but right before he left we were able to give him a new pair of gloves and I encouraged Andy, letting him know how much God cares about him and that I will be praying.

Even though nothing visibly changed about Andy, I want to believe that he will remember this conversation and someday find healing in God’s relentless love. I am amazed to see the way God cares so deeply about someone and wants to share His heart with us. Please pray for Andy and the many others like Andy who we meet on the streets who are broken and hurting but running away from the One true source of Life.

View from the Truck: Me Sitting with Andy