Fisher of Men

And He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make You fishers of Men.  - King James Bible


It was the 4th of July.  I was up early that Saturday morning to get some pictures at Sylvan Beach in La Porte hoping to capture some shots that would be used in a soon to be published La Porte Chamber of Commerce directory.  I was hoping for a spectacular sunrise with the Sylvan Beach fishing pier in the foreground.

It was a little after 5am, and with the sunrise at 6:26am, I had plenty of time to find the spot I thought would give me the best angle.  I was anxious, and hopeful, to capture something special.

To my disappointment, when I arrived at the park gate to the pier, there was a long line of trucks with trailered boats to get in.  The gate was locked.  With another boat ramp just to the west, I decided to see if that one was open.  Gladly, I found it open, headed in and parked.  My objective was to find a way to walk along the shore around the fence to the fishing pier.

In the dark of the morning, I walked across the grass headed to the bay’s shore. The banks were heavily reinforced with large rocks and a long fence line prevented me from getting to where I wanted to go.  So I turned back and would figure out what to do next as I waited for the park gate to open.

As I made my way back to the my vehicle, off to the right in the darkness was a person sleeping on a  concrete picnic bench.  I immediately assumed it was a homeless person, as there were two shopping carts full of ’stuff’ alongside the bench of the picnic table.  

I was somewhat taken back with myself with not noticing him as I first walked in.

As I was starting to pull away, I thought about going back to the McDonald’s I passed about 1/2 mile away and picking up some breakfast and leaving it for him. I talked myself out of doing that and headed over to see if the pier had opened.

I then caught myself and thought, “Hey, God put that thought in your head to get that person some food, just do it.”   So, I headed over to McDonalds and ordered two medium coffees, two sausage and egg McMuffins, and an orange juice.  I’d only have a coffee.

As I drove over to deliver the breakfast, I thought about what kind of encounter I may have with this person. Always cautious, I did have some concerns.  I also thought wouldn’t it be weird if I knew this person and could I have been partially responsible for that person being homeless.  ‘Could it be someone who use to work with us I let go in the past.”  My conscience was working hard.

I pulled in, stopped my vehicle, grabbed the tray with the coffee, juice and bag of breakfast sandwiches and walked over to leave them.  As I got within 15 feet or so, I could only tell the person had their head covered and were facing away, somewhat sleeping in a half fetal position.  In a moderate tone, I said “Good Morning, I have some breakfast, for you.”  I wanted to somewhat give a warning I was coming and not cause alarm.

As I was placing them down on the bench, the only thing not covered that I could see was light brown long wavy hair, and I assumed it was a woman.   Then in a soft, tender,  tone, with her face away from me, from under the covers she simply said “Thank You”.   She never moved.

I turned around and never looked back. I felt like somewhat I intruded on her and hoped she could get back to sleep if I had waked her.  

As I drove away I was overcome with emotion and tears started flowing down my eyes.   She sounded as young as one of my daughters, and my heart felt for her.  I prayed for her.  I thanked God for sending me there and I only hoped I could do more.  I thanked God my daughter’s don’t have the struggles this young lady has.

As I look back, it was in search of something I was looking for, and didn’t find, I only was able to see something more worthwhile.  And although I didn’t capture that spectacular sunrise that morning, I was able to give something away - it wasn’t the breakfast, but it was the love of God and through that, I felt thankful and blessed.  No shot I take will ever capture that.