We went to the bank and had a twenty dollar bill. I had the weirdest feeling that I was being led to somebody specific. This feeling kept intensifying almost driving me crazy. I kept feeling I would run into an older lady. I saw an older lady sitting at a bus stop talking to God as I was in the turning lane where you could hear her. I drove past her and I ran into this gentleman. I said this is where I’m supposed to stop he was sitting in a vacant parking lot next to St Ignatius Church. He is sitting there with a bike and a backpack. I grabbed a tent and the $20. As I walked up to him I realized he was painting. He looked up at me thankful for the tent then looked at me, looked at the painting, and looked back at me kinda in disbelief. I called Jay out to come see it. He said what the guy was thinking and I was thinking, he said that looks like you. I ran back home and grabbed paint and a canvas I had. We brought it to him. The man cried multiple times. Jay told the man I hadn’t been feeling well. The man prayed for me. I will never forget what he said. I have been feeling a lot of weight on my shoulders. He said mid-prayer multiple times to take off the heavy backpack take the weight to let go of the stress. Some of you have seen the graphic I made a while ago for when our unhoused die. It is a backpack with wings. Something about what he said was so deep and had so much meaning I’m forever grateful.
Crystal Sanchez is with the Sacramento Homeless Union.
