Mr. Bentley

So...God basically is ridiculous. Let me tell you about my night. So I went and saw a movie, by myself (it's really not that bad), and I got out and decided before I hit the exit that it was going to be one of those nights. You know, where you're listening to some awesome tunes (in this case, the Rush of Fools CD), and just feel like driving? Well, I decided to take a drive out to see the city... Cincinnati that is. I originally planned on driving through, but figured hey... why not go see fountain square? So I did. It's pretty beautiful at night, with all the Christmas decorations up, everything all lit up... very surreal. It was a good time up to this point.. a lot of stuff has been heavy on my heart lately, it was one of those times to just talk to and enjoy God. I was almost hoping to talk to someone... perhaps share Jesus with them. It's always a refreshing thing to do when you are feeling down or have a lot of stuff on your mind... just forget about your problems and talk to someone else. Lo and behold, as I'm walking back to my car, Mr. Bentley walks up.

Now, I didn't know he was Mr. Bentley yet, but I knew he was homeless, and was going to ask me for money. He did, so I decided to stop and talk to him. He has quite an interesting story. He was very honest with me, he wanted money for beer. Now, that's no good, so instead I have him a $10 gift card I had in my wallet to Starbucks. He knew where one was (right down the street, literally), so hopefully he'll use that and get some drink or food. He was thankful, and I asked him to share his story. He was born and raise in Cincy, has lived here his whole life. He dropped out of high school and was kicked out of his house (which was in the projects, basically), and he's been living on the streets basically ever since. He was a son, who is 2 and 1/2 years old. He frequents downtown, and goes to the homeless shelter to get fed three times a week. I don't know what he does for his other meals.

After listening to his story, and just talking with him about whatever, I steered the conversation to Jesus. He grew up in church, and knew quite a bit about the Bible, but didn't really believe it. He had a hard time accepting that God made a son, who would die. We talked about this for a while, mainly just listening to what he had to say, and trying to ask questions that would make him think. We talked about sin, Jesus' love, God's creation, and a lot of other things. The homeless shelter he went too has a pastor, so I asked him if He would talk to the pastor, and ask him about Jesus, and His Love. He said he would, and then we parted ways.

This was completely awesome... I never really expected that to happen tonight, but I'm so happy it did. I can't help but wonder where Mr. Bentley will go tomorrow, what he'll do, if he'll ever talk to that Pastor, but I know God is in control, and he has seeds in his life. I pray they will be watered. I'm totally psyched right now... I want to go downtown every night and just talk to people.. God definitely taught me, and reminded me of a lot through Mr. Bentley, and I'm thankful I followed that urge to just drive.