for some reasons i always end up in conversations with people who are homeless. tonight i had to go to our local chevron to get some air in my front, driver’s side tire (i go to this chevron because they have free air and water unlike most of the other fuel stations around us). while i was pumping up the tire a heard someone say, “hey, what’s your name?” when i looked up there was a guy that i assumed was homeless looking across my hood at me. i told him my name and and asked his – it was “mack.” well, mack started asking me for directions to highway 61 and the best way to get to la place, louisiana. after, discussing that for a minute or two he asked if i was heading that way. i wasn’t (don’t worry mom i don’t give hitchhikers rides) which he said was good because i shouldn’t pick up hitchhikers anyway. mack then began to tell me the story of why he was trying to get to la place. mack used to work on a ship’s crew. he hit some bad luck and made some poor decisions and life went pretty sour. he’s now trying to straighten things out and has the possibility of a crew job in la place. so we talked while i pumped up my tire and then talked a little longer. i then bought him some coffee and wished him luck. mack went back over to his tree that he had been sitting under when i arrived and sat down in the dark.
i don’t know why but i regularly have conversations with homeless guys in public places. this is fine by me because i like people who just so happen to be homeless – this is why my family and our youth ministry have a strong relationship with the beautiful feet homeless ministry of fort worth, texas. still i seem to have an unusally large amount of interactions with homeless men and women in public places. i think that if i got four other middle-aged, white guys and formed a 5 person caucasian line up for one homeless guy to look at that he would come over and talk to me first 9 out of 10 times. you’ve heard of “animal magnetism?” well i have “homeless magnetism.” maybe i smell different from most other people or i dress ratty? i’m not sure, i just know that i draw homeless people.