the searbys

Today we went to the town of Cedar Key located an hour west on the Gulf of Mexico. It is a sleepy little fishing and art town, a bit touristy but small and quaint. We had intentions of sitting on the beach but after we'd walked the main street to check out the shops a storm blew in so we figured we'd weather it inside. We found a local restaurant and bar on stilts called Frog's with tables looking over the gulf and had an afternoon snack and 2 for 1 drinks. We had corn fries, a local specialty, which were basically french fries made of corn meal instead of potatoes and served with salsa and ranch sauce. Very tasty! So we watched the storm roll in and bring a little rain and just soaked up the fact that we were sitting on the Gulf of Mexico enjoying a cold beer and a beautiful summer storm. God is so amazing. After some more walking and more rain we decided to head back to Gainesville on the scenic route. There wasn't much to stop for so we didn't, until we hit Gainesville and one of the local Starbucks'. We looked over the classifieds, homes for sale and generally enjoyed our coffee and each other's company. Having no friends and no social life, we decided we'd just drive around Gainesville and look at things. What we found was a homeless man named Michael. His sign said, "just plain hungry." We both wanted to help so we drove through Wendy's and got him some chicken strips and delivered them and I chatted with him for a few minutes. He had a bad infection in his leg and said he'd been barely surviving here on the streets. He looked tired and weary. I believe God may have been speaking to me, leading me to look for an opportunity to plug in with local homeless shelters or outreach. So, I'm gonna start looking. I was struck, our first day here, by the number of homeless people I saw as compared to Bloomington-Normal or Champaign-Urbana, both very comparable in size and culture to Gainesville. I think it is no coincidence that this has impacted me so much. So that was our day on our new adventure in Florida. The Gulf, coffee and a homeless man named Michael who represented to me every homeless person in Gainesville and a need that I may be able to help fill.
-joel

did you have your camera during the storm? i assume not but had to ask. good luck with michael. you always get to people right when they are needing it most.
cheers,
julie  

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