The Nothin' Comin" List

Joe tried hard to do what the Lord had told him to do--take care of Lisa--but every man has his limits. He won the drawing at the prayer meeting for a free night's stay so he got Lisa out from under the bridge and tried to get her cleaned up. He called his sister in California and she agreed to pay for a few more nights at the motel. He kept telling us he'd get Lisa off alcohol while she was with him. "Just give me two weeks and I'll have her straightened out." During that week, Lisa was in and out of detox but Joe continued to pray for her and wait. When she got out, we went to visit them and she looked great. We discussed that MAYBE this could be the turning point in her life. She agreed..........MAYBE. While she was sober, she was able to get her last pay check from her previous job. She called to tell us that she had put $100 on their motel bill and bought a few necessities. She also said she had called her mom. She was very proud of all these accomplishments. I said I'd be down to see them in the afternoon but by the time I got there, Lisa was parallel on the bed with a half empty bottle of vodka beside her. Vodka must have been one of those necessities. Joe looked sad and defeated.


Three days later, we found Joe back under the bridge. He said he couldn't continue to sit there and watch Lisa get drunk and sick. We couldn't blame him. He sadly told us, "I asked the Lord to send me a good woman. But I didn't want another drunk."

Lisa's paid room was up the next day so the next time Joe saw her she was with Marvin, a known woman beater. We could see the pain in his eyes when he said "there wasn't nothin I could do to stop her."

Two days later, I stopped to feed the cat and found a note in the cat food bowl....I got Lesa. Come down under. Joe

Lisa had just returned from the hospital and detox with another black eye. Marvin had hit her repeatedly in the head so she was taken to the hospital. She said she got the black eye while in the hospital...she fell. I questioned that but she was wearing a wrist band that said "fall precautions." Nothing surprises us now.

Joe was glad to have Lisa back. We picked him up to go to Walmart to get work boots and Lisa asked if we could get her a hair brush. After Joe picked out his boots, we went to find Lisa a brush. Joe picked out one he thought she'd like and then told me, "I could sit and brush Lisa's hair all day." Unfortunately, as much as Joe tried, it was just a matter of days before Lisa went back to detox. This time, Joe said he was moving out from under the bridge. He heard the HOT cops were going to start writing $750. tickets or six months in jail. Joe was going to go stay with R.J. "He's a real good tramp."


Joe always came back to the bridge around 3 so he could see us when we stopped to feed the cat. One day when I stopped he called for me to come down the trail...he had something for me. When he was "flying his sign" that afternoon someone stopped and gave him a gift card to Chilis. It had $12.53 left on it and he wanted us to have it. He was as happy to give it as we were to receive it.

During one of the Tuesday prayer meetings, Patricia was saying that Jesus is a friend. Joe was sitting next to Susie and he whispered to her, "Jesus is my friend. Everybody else is just acquaintances. Except you, Barb and Karen. You're my friends." And Joe is our friend.

During one of our conversations, while sitting under the bridge, Joe looked at me and said in a real serious tone........."I feel like I'm at the bottom of the nothin' comin' list." I think I knew what he meant.