Our brother, Paul

Little did we know that angels still walk the Earth... some, however, happen to smell of alcohol and beg for cigarettes and spare change. This evening while walking back from a community gathering, we encountered the face of a man whose words are still resonating in all of our hearts.
He stopped Robert and me for change and cigarettes. Upon turning around to walk away empty handed, I asked him his name. "Paul" (his name has been changed for privacy). Paul, he said. He found out that we were church folk and, typically, as what always happens, he apologized to us for not recently attending church. We forgave him (as if we needed to), then something strange happened - for a few brief moments, he talked to us (something that we are realizing happens more often than not on the street). Sure, it could have been the alcohol, but the words he spoke were profound. Two instances in particular:
1. A neighbor (who I will call "John") walked by who attended the meeting from which we had just departed. He spoke to us but did not acknowledge Paul. As he walked by, Paul murmured, "I'll see you again even if the sun don't shine and the rivers rise for you pass by my house everyday and have never acknowledged me." Paul, who later admitted that he was legally blind, noticed John, yet John had never noticed Paul.
2. After we said our goodbyes to Paul, he turned around and said that he had attended church recently (I don't think he could let go of the fact that we told him that we were studying to become ministers). We turned around and shouted back that we were proud of him and hoped that he would continue. Then, he looked down to the ground and said, "But I couldn't take communion, though." He paused for a moment, then grabbed his chest. In broken, depressed syllables he spoke, "My heart just wasn't in the right place to take it. But I'm trying."
In that statement, Paul confessed a deep and profound theology - one of forgiveness and redemption. His words pierced my deceptive heart and caused all of us to walk home speechless in the Holy Spirit's conviction of our falsehood. I don't know if Paul will remember this conversation tomorrow. But we will. And we will always consider Paul our brother and not a stranger for we saw his face, and it was beautiful.

God is Love,
Ryan