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"A Young Man Approached me at a Gas Station"
I was in Texarkana, Texas, pumping gas when a young man approached me and asked, "Senor, quiere agua?" He held out a bottle of water and I understood immediately that he was asking for help: Can you give me something for the water?
I had noticed the old car under a shade tree with a woman and two dogs when we had entered the gas station. They looked tired from travel and from the heat. The dogs had ropes tied around their necks, no collars. The young man had come from the car.
I asked him in Spanish where he was from and he said Venezuela. He went on to explain that they had been traveling for two months, had crossed the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, and were heading to New Jersey seeking asylum there. "I have papers from La Migra, I can show you." he said.
"Do you believe in God?" I asked. He said he did. I told him to let me pray for him and his wife. When I held their hands to pray, the dogs started barking as if I was in someway going to harm their masters. We prayed and I gave them $100 and asked them to know that there are no coincidences, that everyday, I pray for God to take me where I am supposed to be, to where he is working. "You are here for a reason." I said. They nodded.
Who are these people that risk everything to come to the United States and what is God's plan in all of this? I'm not sure, but I know what it means to be abandoned without hope and dependent on the mercy of strangers. My mother told me the story many times of her family losing everything -- their farm, furniture, equipment, even their milk cow -- to foreclosure on a loan in January 1932. She was ten years old with no winter coat and no home. She taught me that there is a God; she answered the question.
We continue to seek God's will with our scholarship program. Fifteen scholarships valued at over $13,250 are being provided by our foundation this year. A description is provided below of the students who have been supported, of their dreams and struggles, of hope overcoming darkness. We are a nation in transition and God has a plan. These young people are our future and I believe that future is bright. We need to make the investment now to give them a chance.
Can you help? Any amount is welcome.
We have more than doubled our scholarship amounts this year and have the lowest amount of residual funding -- less than $1,000 -- since we established the foundation in 2018. We are moving forward in faith that we can continue providing scholarships in Mississippi (Grenada and Coahoma Counties), Virginia (Fairfax County) and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Please help if you can.
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