Cardboard Guy

It's been over a year and Cardboard Guy keeps popping up in my head --and in my prayers.

I call him "Cardboard Guy" because I do not know his name.  I met him while on a mission trip to Iquitos, Peru, in November of 2023.

Iquitos is a city of a half-million people surrounded by the Amazon jungle. It's the largest city in the world that you cannot reach by automobile. There are plenty of cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles in Iquitos and they travel on roads inside Iquitos and throughout the Amazon, but those roads aren't connected to Lima or any other major city. That's because the Amazon River is the superhighway that stretches 2030 miles through Peru and Brazil and economically connects Iquitos to the Caribbean ocean and the rest of the world.  It also has an airport, which is how I arrived.

The mission team's primary focus was Genesis Church, which has over 1,000 members two-thirds of whom are under age 18. It's an amazing, active, alive, growing church focused on discipleship. One evening, we had supper with a dozen prostitutes and saw the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit move in their lives. We worshiped and praised the LORD with the congregation and participated in the power and joy of Christ that was going on all around us.

In the midst of all this glory, there was one day when we were treated to an American lunch of burgers and fries at a downtown restaurant in Iquitos. As we pulled up to park the truck, a man with an unkempt mane of dark hair, a blue T-shirt, blue jeans, and bare feet rushed over to cover our windshield with a piece of cardboard and shield the vehicle from the equatorial sun while we dined. All of the other vehicles in the parking area, (including the seats of the numerous small motorcycles that are so common here) were also covered in cardboard.  There were other people trying to put cardboard on our windshield, but Cardboard Guy jealously guarded his cardboard kingdom and usurped any competition in the area.

At the conclusion of our meal, I was sent to start the vehicle so of course, Cardboard Guy assumed I would be tipping him for protecting our vehicle from the blistering sun and various and sundry ne’er-do-wells. 

I reached in my pocket, found a five-sol coin, handed it to him and said, “Dios te bendiga.” (God bless you.)

Cardboard Guy was very appreciative.

When our hostess and owner of said vehicle, Bethany Baxter de Noriega, arrived at the vehicle, others told her what I had done and I was informed that five sols might have been a bit excessive, as the standard tip was only one or two sols. My response was that five soles was about $1.25 and, while that might seem a bit much, Cardboard Guy didn’t have any shoes, he obviously needed the money, and it was only $1.25.

Jesus would have given him $1.25, right?

Now, it’s been well over a year since this whole maybe 60-second interaction with Cardboard Guy took place, but he keeps coming to mind again and again.

I've met a lot of people on mission trips, and here in this country, who were struggling economically. I've helped a few of them out of the abundance God has given me, and I've prayed for and with a lot of them.

But the difference with Cardboard Guy was that I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me I needed to tell Cardboard Guy that God had a plan for his life.

When I first perceived that in prayer, my initial response was a desire to know what God's plan was for Cardboard Guy. The answer came quickly -- God wanted Cardboard Guy to tell people Jesus loves them.

It's the same plan He has for ALL of us!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." "John 3:16-17 (NIV) (Emphasis added.)

We find the word "world" four times in those two verses.  

Eventually, the Holy Spirit got so insistent (“Nag” is most-assuredly the wrong word, but it is very close.) that I contacted Bethany and told her what was going on inside my soul. She was willing to help.

What I finally decided to do after considerable thought and prayer is send Bethany $20 (because in my mind that's a fair price for a pair of shoes) and if the Holy Spirit opens a door and reminds her of all of this, she should go ahead and use it. It doesn’t have to be that specific guy, and it doesn’t have to be that specific situation. I trust Bethany, I trust the LORD, and I trust the Holy Spirit.  I also trust the Holy Spirit to remind me of all of this when I meet the next Cardboard Guy who steps into my life with bare feet --and for whom God has a glorious and wonderful plan! 

And here’s the deal, and why I bring this up: All of us –each and everyone of us– is called to God’s plan of sharing love and grace and mercy and telling others that God loves them. My revelation for Cardboard Guy really is no different for him than it is for you. The glorious Good News of unspeakable joy is that the Messiah has come to save you and everyone you meet! Whether you have no shoes and make your living running a cardboard-based protection plan for motor vehicles, or you have wealth far greater than most people (and most of us reading this do have far more wealth than the rest of the world) we are here to love and support and encourage and bless each other –and that certainly includes His bride, the Church. 

Christmas filled our hearts with joy and peace and generosity –and those are gifts of the Holy Spirit directly tied to the kingdom of light invading the kingdom of darkness. In our everyday world, we see a lot of things that seem dark and horrible, but the everyday joys and truth and grace and love far outweigh those things.

Every smile, every five-sol coin, every genuine act of agape love is a battle won in the war of good over evil. 

We were not meant to live in cardboard castles surrounded by moats of indifference. God has a plan in the war of good and evil for each and every one of us.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)