Jeff was a tall, white man who looked to be in his late 20’s or early 30’s. He had his hair in a ponytail and was wearing jeans and a grey shirt. At first glance, you wouldn’t think he would be homeless.
Jeff had a friendly demeanor. We started talking and he told us that he had become homeless very recently and that he lived in a small town somewhere east of San Antonio. One of the pieces of advice he gave us was to be careful because he had already met some dangerous people on the streets.
“Is this supposed to be like “Beyond Scared Straight”? Are y’all trying to scare the teens?”
At first, Jeff was pretty confused about why a group of kids was walking around downtown talking to the homeless. We then explained to him about the retreat and how our purpose was to encounter Christ within other people. We told him our goal was to make people feel like they mean something to someone because that is something everyone needs. Jeff completely agreed with us that everyone deserves to be treated like a real person except he told us that he believed that Christ isn’t within anyone. He said that all anyone ever does is pursue their own needs.
“We are people too.”
However, he said that, even though he knows everyone tells us, the biggest piece of advice he could give us was to stay in school. He told us that when he was a kid, he never thought he would be where he was now so he treated school like it was a joke. He said that not taking school seriously is the biggest mistake you could make because it doesn’t even give you a chance in the real world. Nevertheless, he said he managed to get a job having to do with fracking but, because he never developed a work ethic in school, his job didn’t last long for him.
“Trust me, you don’t want to be like me.”
Reflections on Jeff →