It’s going on a year since I’ve posted a blog. And quite a year it has been.
Driving on the expressway, leaving Kansas City, I took the above picture. I lived there until COVID caused me to lose my rent house. When I saw the words, “go new places” I laughed. That’s exactly what I was doing. I had no real idea what the Lord wanted to accomplish or where He wanted me to go. But He had made it clear that He wanted me on the road. So I decided to make this a pilgrimage. I would visit shrines, pray, go to Mass, spend time with Jesus, and wait for Him to give me some clearer direction.
I guess I didn’t explain what happened. Too embarrassed, I guess. Although, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in dire straits from COVID-19. Of course, I say, ‘dire straits’ but it really didn’t feel like dire straits. It only looked that way from the outside.
It wasn’t the first time I’d been homeless. Although, it didn’t feel like I was homeless. I had a roof over my head. Of course, it was the roof of my car which is an SUV and so it was quite comfortable. I was on a pilgrimage and the Lord directed my steps.
Two years prior to this, the Lord had been highlighting two scriptures. Luke 10 and Mathew 10, which are the stories of when Jesus sends out the 12 apostles and the 70 disciples. In both stories, Jesus tells them to go out and “heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons,” etc., etc., etc.
What concerned me wasn’t that part of the story. I figured if I was to do any of that, Jesus would show me what I needed to say or do when it needed to be said or done. No, what really concerned me was another scripture.
In Luke 9: 57-58 and Mathew 8:19-20, Jesus tells one who tells Jesus he will follow Jesus wherever he goes, “Foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to rest his head.”
This is the scripture that caused me to wonder if I would end up on the street.
During my visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI, I spoke with one of the priests at the Shrine. He assured me that, yes, the Lord would absolutely allow me to end up on the streets. Nothing was beyond the Lord being able to “make all things work for the good of those who love him.”
Fortunately, I never had to sleep on the streets. My car was as bad as it got, but honestly, it wasn’t bad. And when I happened to let it slip that I was living in my car, people were surprised, because I always looked like I had a place to live with a real bed and shower.
But you see, I knew how to live on the road. I had traveled for many months in an RV and I was able to adapt everything to the scale of my car. It was quite pleasant. I enjoyed it because I love to travel AND, most importantly, I knew I was in the will of the Lord. He had prepared me that I would be leaving Kansas City, and kicking me out of my house was the way he would get me on the road.
One of the things the Lord wanted to teach me was to slow down. My life had been intense. I had too much to do and not enough time to do it. I was a model of efficiency. So, when I made my first stop at the Shrine, I knew I could see it in one day, but the Lord told me to take my time. Okay, I thought, two days.
At the end of the second day, I met two women and we ended up spending the rest of the week together. After those women went home, I spent another month in La Crosse. I and wanted to stay there, but the Lord had other plans. What were they? I had no idea but I knew He was telling me it was time to go. I said my good-byes and left.
I think about La Crosse often. I’d like to go back for a visit and I hope to this summer. Then back to Michigan for school in the fall. But that’s another story.
