Charger and Kevin

Yesterday I was in a hurry to get some Slurpee’s from 7
Eleven before I went to meet with my client.
It was a warm day, and I knew this certain client and his staff loved Slurpee’s.  So I arrived at Seven eleven and parked my
car and noticed a homeless man with his dog.


My heart instantly took an eye and keen interest in watching
this man and his sweet dog.  From my car
I watched as he went inside 7/11.  Then I
got out of my car and headed into to go get my Slurpee’s. As I went to pay for
them I noticed the man behind me was the homeless man.  I paid for my things and noticed as I slowly
walked out that the homeless man pulled every bit of spare change from his dirty
and tattered pocket to pay for this little can of Alpo dog food.

My heart sank; as I walked to my car I noticed how much this
dog unconditionally loved his owner.  I
watched as the homeless man walked out of 7/11 with a huge smile on his face
and showed his sweet dog the small can of Alpo.

The dog happily looked at his owner with love as the
homeless man packed away the can of dog food in his dirty back pack.  I instantly in that very moment wanted to go
in a buy an abundant amount of dog food for this homeless man’s dog.  But I knew that the cans were over priced at
7/11, and that the dog needed some dry food, you know something crunchy!!

I also knew I needed to go drop off the Slurpee’s for my
client so that they did not melt.  So I
did just that, and then on a wing and a prayer hoped that by some chance fate
would have me run into this homeless man again.
I knew it was perhaps a long shot because I needed to drop off the
Slurpee’s and then go to Walmart to buy dog food-plus it was raining!!  I kept my thoughts positive, and gosh darn it
I was on a mission.

I went to Walmart and bought an excellent bad of dry dog
food, and a few cans of the Alpo.  The same
Alpo I had witnessed the owner was already feeding his dog, and on the way up
to the register I also bought the homeless man a warm fresh baked loaf of French
bread.  I quickly paid, got in my car,
and I was off to find this man and his dog in the rain. I knew he had to be
somewhere in the area still and I was determined to find him!

I drove around and did not see the man and his dog, and my
heart sank.  However I was not going to
give up.  So I went to the last place I
saw him which was a produce stand right next to 7/11, and I walked up to the
man at this produce stand and kindly asked him if he had seen where the
homeless man and his dog went. 

This man said, “You mean that homeless guy with the dog,
yeah his name is Kevin and well I am not sure where he went he is probably
around here somewhere.”  I said thanks
and walked back to my car,  got  in and gazed at the bag of food sitting on
the passenger’s seat that so desperately needed to be in this dog’s belly.  My mind quickly recalled that now my homeless
man was not just a no name…his name was Kevin.

I was like Dora the explorer on crack!!  I drove off and was driving through the
parking lot when out of the corner of my eye I saw him, I saw Kevin-score!!!  He was at a drive through coffee shop getting
his dog some water in a cup that the coffee shop had kindly given him.

I parked my car and with great excitement walked up and
said, “Excuse me are you Kevin?”  He
looked at me in pure shock like how do you know my name.  He said, “Why yes”.  I then said to him, “I saw you buy your sweet
dog some food with all the money you had left and I wanted to make sure you had
some more for him.  I hope you do not
mind, but here is a bag of food and some more Alpo for him.  Kevin what is your dog’s name?”  Kevin replied in shock, “His name is Charger.”  I then knelt down in my business clothes with
a big smile on my face and I said in a sweet soft voice, “Hi Charger…I brought
you some food.”

What happened next caught me off guard.  Charger got up from lying down and walked
straight to me and he looked at me straight in my eyes.  He looked at me in a way I will never be able
to describe and that I will never forget.
With great excitement and passion I said, “Chargerrrrr you are such a
good booooy”, and as I said that I had a happy tear run down my face and the
biggest smile.

I then stood up and looked at Kevin and I said, “Stay strong
Kevin, and take care of that dog of yours he is a sweetheart”.  Kevin looked at me and struggled with tears
and he said, “Thank you so much, so much.
Charger and I make it because we have a strong faith.”  I knelt down again and pet Charger on his
dirty head like he was the cleanest dog in the world.  I stood up shook Kevin’s hand and then told
them both goodbye, and got back into my car.

As I pulled away I could not help but have a few tears come
down my face because I could feel the strength Kevin had to have to survive,
and I could see the unconditional love that Kevin and Charger had for each
other.  Some greater divinity spoke to me
yesterday and I listened, and it was amazing to be guided like that to help a
person in need. 

Someday that could be you, me, or one of our loved ones-you
just never know.  I did not judge Kevin once,
I did not need to know his story, and I was just grateful God choose me to be
his messenger of unconditional love. 

Who are we to turn are head and let time rush us to the next
point in our life, where we just rush and look forward to the next point in our
life, and so on.  It is a redundancy that
will drain your spirit.  It’s moments like
I had today where I am amazed what can happen if you just open your heart and
eyes, and see what everyone so often pretends they do not see.  I did not have time scheduled to go out of my
way to Walmart…I made time, and in the end everything worked out
beautifully. 

No one thing can compare to the feeling that one receives from
being the change our community and world needs.
I thank God for Kevin and Charger they gave me the biggest gift
yesterday…they awakened my soul. 
May you give like Santa, and spread smiles like wildfire.