With his eyes closed, his face bathed in the soft morning sun, he sat motionless on his electric scooter. Skid Row stretched out before him — gritty, restless, alive — yet for a moment he seemed untouched by it. Against that harsh Los Angeles backdrop, he looked almost at peace, as if he had finally surrendered to something deeper than the noise around him.
Then I saw it.
He lifted his hand and wiped away tears.
I sat in my buddy’s car, unable to look away. I locked on to the man and my gaze finally pulled back to the road, but my heart stayed with him. I whispered a prayer for this stranger who had never spoken a word to me, yet had somehow called my attention. God knew why this scene had been placed before me, even if I didn’t.
There are no coincidences.
Later, the thought came quietly, almost like a whisper:
“You are not far from this man. You are only a few graces away.”
That truth landed deep.
It’s easy to believe that our lives are separate from people like him — that different choices, better luck, stronger willpower somehow made us different. But grace tells a different story. Every good thing I have — my sobriety, my family, my work, my clarity — rests on mercy I did not earn. I did not climb out of my darkness alone. God carried me.
So maybe God showed me that man not to create pity, but to remind me of humility. Not to shame me, but to ground me. To say, “This could have been you. In many ways, it was you. And only grace made the difference.”
God shows us the broken not to make us feel superior, but to keep us tender. He lets us see tears in the morning sun so we don’t forget how fragile every life is — including our own.
We are all only a few graces away from a different story.
“What do you have that you did not receive?” — 1 Corinthians 4:7
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the grace that found me when I didn’t know how to find You.
Keep my heart soft toward those who suffer.
Remind me that every breath, every blessing, every step forward is mercy.
Amen.
