365 DAYS OF LOVE: DAY 0 ~ GIVING 2 BAGS OF FRUIT TO STRANGERS ON THE STREET

JAIME & BRENDA FELIX WITH TWO BAGS OF FRUIT

It’s New Years eve today in downtown Los Angeles. This is where my office for work is located. I came to the office today with no one around. I had a meeting with Mike Kim, he wrote the book “ESCAPING NORTH KOREA” and they are going to turn his book into a feature length film to create awareness for the challenging issues in North Korea. This issue is a burden on my heart that I’ve been praying about for nearly 3 years now. I think God may have answered my prayer to be used in some way to bring justice to the injustice happening in North Korea today through helping Mike with this film. They have some big open doors for this film to be made… cool thing is we got to spend time praying for the film and freedom to come to North Korea together…

After they left the office, I was going to head downstairs to grab a lunch by myself. Instead of eating the usual cafe downstairs, I thought, “Hey, it’s a beautiful today, I should take a walk outside and see what lunch brings.” Well, when I got to the corner of Wilshire, my stomach was craving my usual favorite Korean “Soon Do Bu” across the street to the left. But then, I felt saying a little prayer to God, “Dear God, I know I’ve committed to this 365 Days of Love thing, I don’t know how this will work, but would you give me an opportunity to love somebody today who needs it?” After I prayed that prayer, I looked down the street to my right and saw this fruit stand in the distance. For some reason, I felt compelled to go right instead and see what might happen.

So I started walking right. By the time I got to the fruit stand I saw this couple there who looked sad, as if they wanted to buy some fruit but didn’t have the money to. They walked across the street so I ran after them and decided to take a chance… “Excuse me, you don’t know me but I was wondering if you two needed some of that fruit you were looking at?” They both looked at me, smiled and said “Yes!” We went back across the street and they both chose whatever fruit they wanted in their bag. Both of them looked so happy! There names were Jaime & Brenda.

I then asked them about their family. They told me they had two boys (Antonio & Miguel) and one on the way, little Franchesca. I asked them what they wanted for the new years and they told me “to get our kids back from custody.” I asked them if I could pray for them about that. We bowed our heads and started praying next to the fruit stand together. As I was pray I heard God tell me to also pray for Jaime to have not only a good job, but his own company. While praying God told me that Jaime was a carpenter, so after prayer I asked Jaime, “Do you work with your hands, like with carpentry?” He looked amazed and told me yes that is what he does. I then felt God wanted me to tell him that he would have his own carpentry or house decorating company. Then they both, with excitement told me that was their dream! They even had a name for their company that they have been dreaming for “FELIX COMPANY” because their last names are Felix. You could feel God’s love in the air as they both knew God was speaking and this encounter was a divine meeting.

We exchanged information, I gave them some cash for the journey, we hugged and will stay in touch. They both told me they had Jesus in their heart. I said, “Jesus te llama” (Jesus Loves You)

Who would have thought? It made me think, dang, if every day we just put ourselves out there to love somebody, there would be somebody to love. Problem is, most of us are too busy that we don’t stop to look around us and ask God if there is somebody we can help. If we did, I really believe there would be more than enough opportunities looking straight at us. Love is bold. Love steps out. Love puts itself out there without knowing what to expect… Love is risky, but man is it worth it!

Just to see the smiles on Jaime & Brenda’s face. To see hope come into their eyes, that made my day. 365 days of love hasn’t even officially begun, it’s New Years Eve 2009, yet I am so glad that I ended 2009 this way… I can’t wait to see what comes of tomorrow :)

LOVE,

JMA

PS… who would of thought a fruit stand could bring so much love today?

FRUIT STAND ON WILSHIRE BLVD