June 5, 2018
Costa Mesa, CA

"They call me Surfer Pat. One day I was surfing and I met these guys called 'Surfers for Christ' and they invited me to their church. I walked into church with my surfboard and that's when they started calling me Surfer Pat."

I met Surfer Pat while he was sitting on his wheel chair on the sidewalk under the sun. I pushed him under some shade that the side of a building gave. "I was sitting in an alleyway reading a book when a delivery truck came out of no where and ran me over. It didn't stop. It just drove away. My friend eventually found me lying there."

Just spending a few minutes talking with Surfer Pat, I could tell that he was in a lot of pain. He would try to adjust himself on his wheelchair and he would wince in pain.

"Do you go to any of the nearby churches to get food and assistance?"

"Yes, but I'm sometimes too embarrassed to go. I'm homeless. It's hard to get cleaned up to go."

I told him that he shouldn't feel any shame. Churches are there to help. I can't help, but think of Mark 2:17 when Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Surfer Pat is going to UCI medical center tomorrow to get his body checked out and treated for all of its afflictions.