what if god was one of us?

you know, just when you think you have it bad, god reminds you that he is watching over you. today, after having gone to georgia state to see about school, i ate on broad street at taco bell. yeah, yeah... i love taco bell. reminds me of college with katy and three a.m. runs with change... haha.

anyway, i walked to a table outside - it was such a beautiful day today - and perched with my nachos and soft tacos and sweet tea. i browsed briefly through the information i'd received about school and then decided to take in the sights and sounds.

the first, which made me chuckle aloud, was a homeless man, dressed in old, dirty sweats and sported certainly at least a month-old beard. he was speaking to another homeless person (i'm assuming that of both of them) when he told of a person passing away last night. i'm not sure who he said and cannot be certain if it was someone local. but i thought, i'm alive. cool.

that's not what made me chuckle. apparently, as he slept last night, someone reached into his pocket and stole his teeth. it's not funny in itself. but having had several teeth removed, i thought... well, mathew. you don't have all your teeth. but at least the ones you have can't be stolen.

that was but the beginning of the 'signs.'

as i prepared my nachos, which were very, very good, a woman - of whom i also assumed was homeless, passed by and spoke. she asked about my day to which i responded was good. she told me 'god bless you' as she continued to walk by...

but then she turned around and asked if i had anything to share from my table. without thinking, i took one of the two soft tacos i had and offered it to her. (amazingly, that is a quality i inherited from my mother... she'd give a stranger the shirt off her back.)

once again, the woman started to walk away but turned back around and stared me directly in my eyes and said what god surely told her to say: "you're so beautiful. stay beautiful. and god bless you, sweetheart."

wow.

i needed that so bad. if you don't believe in god and that he answers prayers and the he is constantly around you, you're a fool.

as i continued to sit there and eat with tears in my eyes, i watched students pass by with professionals, briefcases in hand, along with homeless people close by. it's such a melting pot of people... across the street, hurt park was full of less-fortunate people. some lounged. others played bongo drums and groups of young men played cards.

traffic stopped once-in-a-while for different groups to cross peachtree.

and there, right in front of my face, was an amazing sculpture, which i was told earlier by the tour guide, built by a former gsu student. it's an arch, the base of either side being books. on them were men and women who together were holding more books. and on top of those books was another platform of people holding books until it got to the center where just one person stood.

the artist intended for people to see how it takes teamwork to get to the top. and if one parts fails, everyone falls, not just the person at the top. everyone suffers.

i applied that to my life and immediately thanked god for the friends i have, which have certainly become a foundation for me. i'm not at the top but am certainly on a strong foundation.

then... i thought. you know, here are all these homeless people being passed by escalades and land rovers and mercedes. we don't even think about them. we don't care for the most part. out of sight, out of mind.

but me, a 'normal' person was sitting there eating a five dollar meal while they surely begged for change across the street.

and it was one of them who saved my day. it was one of them who cheered me up.

what if god was one of us, as the song states?

i dont' have a clever ending to this post... i hope it touches you, though.