By Dayna Beal –

Remember the weather last winter? Did you try to ride your bike in it?  On a very snowy night as I was driving through the neighborhood, I saw a man struggling to push his bicycle through the snow on the side of the road as cars were roaring by and splattering him with snow and slush. I asked him if he wanted a ride. He said sure. He proceeded to load everything he had on the bike into the minivan. He loaded garbage bags, sleeping bag, personal items – everything he owned. Then the bike. It was only then that I realized he was homeless. He asked me to drive him to a shack on Van Raalte Farms where he would wait out the winter storms.  He told me he lost his job five years ago – and he couldn’t be happier. He no longer had to mow the lawn and pay a mortgage. He said he rode his bike over 10 miles a day to Western Seminary for lunch, the library to learn, Providence Church or the City Mission for dinner and then back to the shelter.   When I dropped him off he asked me to come in to see his “home.” Then he said this. “I don’t have any worries, Jesus takes care of me everyday.” I may have given Bill a ride. But Bill gave me a boost. Amen.