These are my new friends (L-R), Michael, Randy and Tonto. I didn't expect to meet these guys on my trip to Las Vegas. I had spent four days in the city at an A/V training and expo being held in the convention center. I didn't come upon these guys until the my final evening in town...
I first met the guys while walking back to the hotel after picking up some souvenirs for the kids at the CVS that was down the street from my hotel. No one seemed to look at them when passing by, so I decided to say "Good evening." as I walked by. They returned the greeting and Michael (left) asked if I could "help him out?". I asked how I could help and Michael responded "maybe with a couple of bucks?". I imagined that he made that request fairly often, but I told him that if he would let me take a picture of him, it would be worth a couple of bucks to me. They all seemed to like the idea of having their picture taken, so they squeezed in for the shot. I left a "couple of bucks" with Michael and told him he had to share since I got to take a picture of all three of them. He said he would share...
By the time I got back to the room, I pulled up their photo on my phone and I started to feel that God wanted me to pursue the relationship with my new friends further. Honestly, I am very cautious about where I go in a big city such as this and I really balked at the idea of going back. I tend to let fear rule me when I am in unfamiliar or possibly unsafe territory.
I could see them from my hotel window and felt really torn as to what to do, and I kept feeling that I should do something. I was getting very hungry and decided to go downstairs to the little hotel market to get a sandwich. I had eaten one of their deli sandwiches shortly after checking in to the hotel and it was quite good. I ordered the sandwich (the house club), and while waiting for it to be made, had thoughts of perhaps sharing it with my new friends (not a typical consideration for me, ashamedly). I really didn't think that I would, and reasoned that "they are probably gone by now" and "it's almost dark and I didn't need to be on the street alone" and other such excuses.
I watched as the nice deli lady cut my sandwich into four big skewered quarters and I recalled how I had eaten only one quarter of the sandwich I bought when I had first arrived in town (the rest was still in the fridge upstairs). I soon felt very strongly that God had planted that idea - that there were the perfect number of sandwich skewers for me and the three guys outside... I began to feel that I should act right then, or I never would. So I walked my sandwich out the door and down the sidewalk, not haveing a clue as to what I should do next... I actually (ashamedly again) started to walk past them, but one of them recognized me as the guy who took their picture and said hello to me.
Still not knowing what to do, I stopped and turned to them and said "Hey, how's it going". They said that it was going OK. I asked if they had, perhaps, just gotten back from supper and they said that they had not eaten and didn't know when they would. I responded (this kind of just... came out...) "Oh, really? Well, I just bought a sandwich and the nice lady that made it cut it into four big pieces... and there are one, two, three.. four of us... would you like to eat it with me???" They all indicated that that would be awesome and were very thankful. So, I sat down with these guy and divied up the sandwich and chips (Micheal took the pickle - I hate dill pickles...).
Unexpectedly, the one who called himself Tonto (the guy on the right in the photo) immediately prayed a thank you prayer for the food (in a rather weird way) while the other two began to eat. I didn't know whether this might turn into some type of manipulation play (it didn't) but it did open the door for me to talk to them about spiritual matters during later conversation.
Tonto and Randy (middle in photo) told me much of their background and I shared mine. Randy has some sort of short term memory loss, because he asked me if I had kids at least three different times during our supper and subsequent onversation. God opened multiple opportunities for me to share the relationship that I and my family had with Jesus Christ. Randy and Tonto indicated that they knew Jesus as well but, as I cannot see into their hearts, I continued to wait for other opportunities to speak to them further about such. That is what I felt I was there for.
There seemed to be some mania - a disconnectedness - with each of them and I couldn't tell if anything I was saying was making any impression. Tonto found out that I like to sing and asked me to sing something for them. I started to sing "Amazing Grace" (it was the only song I could think of) and surprisingly, Tonto joined in with me. He knew most of the words to the first verse. I think people walking by (there were many) thought we were all quite looney They gave us a wide berth and would not look at us as they hurried by. I think it made those people uncomfortable although I was surprised (and thankful) at how comfortable I was with everything that was happening.
Michael offered me a cigarette, but Randy (after asking me whether I smoked or not) persuaded me not to start (so I didn't!). Tonto asked me if he could keep my Gatorade bottle to put water in. I asked him if I could buy some water for them before I left, but he declined saying that they had a place to get water. After hanging out with the guys for a couple of hours, I got the feeling that I had done all that God wanted me to do there and told my new friends that I needed to go get some sleep before going home the next morning. They shook my hand and said that they were glad I was able to eat and talk with them. They seemed very sincere when they urged me to look them up if I came back to Las Vegas. I wrote their names down on a business card and put it in my pocket. I told them that my family and I would be praying for them on a regular basis that their relationship with Jesus Christ would become stronger over time.
I thanked them for letting me hang out with them and said goodbye. Randy told me that he was going to travel to Mexico soon and said; "If you and your family come to Mexico and need a place to stay, that he and his friends "down there" would be glad to put us up for the night." That was nice - and it struck me that some sort of bond had been created during the last couple of hours. I said goodbye for a last time and walked back toward the hotel.
In my short walk back, I prayed that the seeds that God had intended had been planted - and asked God to convict other Christians to take time to hang out with my new found friends. If you are a Christian, I invite you to pray for Michael, Randy and Tonto. God has blessed me and my family so very richly. I want the same for my new friends...
God Bless,
Mark
