Journey of faith
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John Allen is on a journey of faith. He’d been on the road six weeks and three days as of Monday.
Homeless and jobless since a fire about seven weeks ago burned the restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as a cook, he is on his way to Kenedy, Texas, where he has been promised a job.
He is travelling on a bicycle, pulling an aluminum travel traveler.
He said that he lost his home because part of his pay was use of an apartment above the restaurant. When a fire started in a deep fryer that had accidently been left on, he lost everything.
He feels, though, that God has been with him. He learned from his boss in Ohio of a job in Kenedy, where a restaurant was owned by the brother-in-law of his Ohio boss.
The deal was that he could have the job if he could find a way to get there.
Allen explained that the Texas owner had been cheated by people he had hired sight unseen to whom he sent travel money, only to never hear from them again.
Determined to find work, the 41-year-old Allen got a bike frame, and a travel bike was assembled with parts from three bicycles.
Someone gave him a 6-foot long by 41-inch wide aluminum travel trailer. A church in Indiana gave him a tent. The trailer carries the tent and just about everything Allen has in the world. He said it weighs about 450 pounds loaded.
He said his bike has 21 gears, but “they don’t do much good when you’re pulling something like that.”
He said he has met kindness everywhere on his trip, but nowhere has it been more evident than in Texas.
At one point, a smalltown police chief put him up in a motel when a cold night was expected, and bought him dinner.
At another place, the “bicycle man,” a local person who fixed up bikes and gave them to children, provided new tires for Allen’s cart and bike.
As he approached Gilmer, a few people who saw the signs on his cart proclaiming him to be “broke but hungry” gave him cash, and the First Baptist Church, learning of his journey, put him up in a motel Monday night and gave him some cash to use as needed.
Allen told a man from the church that it had been six days since he had bathed, and that he was going to go to Wal-Mart and get some supplies that he needed.
Barbara Vogl of the church said that Allen was “just thrilled” at the help from the church.
He estimated that he had about another 275 miles more to go to reach his destination.
He gives God the credit for bringing him this far.
“If it wasn’t for God, I couldn’t have done it.”
Homeless and jobless since a fire about seven weeks ago burned the restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as a cook, he is on his way to Kenedy, Texas, where he has been promised a job.
He is travelling on a bicycle, pulling an aluminum travel traveler.
He said that he lost his home because part of his pay was use of an apartment above the restaurant. When a fire started in a deep fryer that had accidently been left on, he lost everything.
He feels, though, that God has been with him. He learned from his boss in Ohio of a job in Kenedy, where a restaurant was owned by the brother-in-law of his Ohio boss.
The deal was that he could have the job if he could find a way to get there.
Allen explained that the Texas owner had been cheated by people he had hired sight unseen to whom he sent travel money, only to never hear from them again.
Determined to find work, the 41-year-old Allen got a bike frame, and a travel bike was assembled with parts from three bicycles.
Someone gave him a 6-foot long by 41-inch wide aluminum travel trailer. A church in Indiana gave him a tent. The trailer carries the tent and just about everything Allen has in the world. He said it weighs about 450 pounds loaded.
He said his bike has 21 gears, but “they don’t do much good when you’re pulling something like that.”
He said he has met kindness everywhere on his trip, but nowhere has it been more evident than in Texas.
At one point, a smalltown police chief put him up in a motel when a cold night was expected, and bought him dinner.
At another place, the “bicycle man,” a local person who fixed up bikes and gave them to children, provided new tires for Allen’s cart and bike.
As he approached Gilmer, a few people who saw the signs on his cart proclaiming him to be “broke but hungry” gave him cash, and the First Baptist Church, learning of his journey, put him up in a motel Monday night and gave him some cash to use as needed.
Allen told a man from the church that it had been six days since he had bathed, and that he was going to go to Wal-Mart and get some supplies that he needed.
Barbara Vogl of the church said that Allen was “just thrilled” at the help from the church.
He estimated that he had about another 275 miles more to go to reach his destination.
He gives God the credit for bringing him this far.
“If it wasn’t for God, I couldn’t have done it.”
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