drawing lessons

I got to hang out with Luis tonight for the first time in several days…I genuinely miss that man when I don’t see him for a while. We went to a birthday party and I found out that he is 39 years old and that his birthday is May 27th. He told me that he never got a birthday present while he was growing up, so needless to say…we are gonna throw quite the surprise bash for him next May. How much fun is that gonna be?

He noticed a few weeks ago at our house that Kristi and I have a record player that her grandparents gave us, and he thought it was the coolest thing ever. Tonight, when I picked him up, he handed me a grocery bag that was full of records he had bought us so we would have something to play on it. It was so fun to see him light completely up when I got excited about them and told him thanks, that they were such an awesome gift. “You like it?”….”Of course I do–this is amazing! I can’t wait to listen to them!” How beautiful is it that Jesus has taken his heart of stone and turned it into a heart that loves to give and serve?

The thing he was the most excited to tell me about, however, is that one of his new friends at Midtown is giving him drawing lessons tomorrow. He has always loved art and was so thrilled he could hardly stand it. He told me he was getting off work a few minutes early so he could take a shower and be ready, and then asked me to pray for him so that he would do good.

Then he told me once again about how he feels like a person again because he has a family now. He said that he is glad now because he knows that even if he has to move away one day, or if he dies, that “we will still be family forever and ever.”

I wonder if this little Mexican man is ever going to stop bringing me to tears? I hope not.