Misty, part 1

I had an opportunity to share the King’s good news with someone who desperately wanted to hear it, but who could not yet believe that He could accept her in light of the way she’s lived her life so far.

Sarah, my sister Colleen and I were heading back into Morgantown late Saturday night (12.3.05) after a weekend in Erie, PA helping with the program for a Young Life Fall Weekend (which was a great experience; I think many high schoolers’ lives were touched). After we turned onto the Star City exit from I-79, I saw someone walking along the side of the road that goes down to the turnoff for the new University Town Centre. As we got closer, I saw it was a girl, and she had her thumb sticking out as she walked. I normally wouldn’t pick someone up with my wife and sister in the car, but I suppose I felt a little safer since it was another girl. Plus it was pouring down freezing rain. I suppose God had a hand in my decision as well!

Sarah and Colleen were sleeping but woke as I pulled the car off the road. I explained that I thought we should give this girl a ride. When she got in the back seat with my sister, she was softly crying, and we asked if she was alright or if she was hurt. She wasn’t hurt physically (thank the King!), but she said her friends deserted her out there. She also told us she was drunk. She began to warm up to us, telling us her name was Misty, and saying she now had a real respect for homeless people because ‘that stuff is cold!’ meaning the rain, but she used another word for ‘stuff.’ This made me naturally think to say that people being homeless in our world really doesn’t seem like the way it was supposed to be. Misty wholeheartedly agreed.

Misty proceeded to tell us that she was 21 years old and had a 2 ½ year old daughter, and that though she loved her daughter dearly, this was the first weekend in a long time where she had a night to go out and just ‘let loose and have a good time.’ Her night obviously hadn’t turned out quite the way she thought it would, however. We interjected here and there, but we mostly just listened as it seemed she wanted to talk some things out.

As we neared downtown, Misty started talking about the weather. Not just in Morgantown that night, but the tornadoes in Kansas, the hurricanes, and other odd or disastrous occurrences. She said that she read in ‘Revelations’ in the Bible that near the end of time, we won’t be able to tell one season from another (I haven't found this reference yet, but I haven't thoroughly studied Revelation) . I parked the car near the hot dog man on High St., ready to keep talking (it was a little after 1 AM) if she wanted, and she made no movement toward the door. When she referenced the fact that world will at some point end, she asked if we believed that.

I looked at her and said, ‘We in this car definitely believe that.’

More on this intriguing story in a near future blog...