I live in London, Ontario, and being at McDonald’s at 1am can bring around some really interesting people. There’s the people who went out drinking and now need the comfort of greasy food. There’s the people who needed a midnight snack and walked an easy 5-10 minutes to get good snacks. There’s people like me who ran out of food in their student homes and desperately need some edible substance, so they turn to good old McD’s for fulfillment. Then, there’s people like Bill, who may buy a coffee and a snack, but spend the rest of the night being an entertainer of joy for those around him. Let’s start with his talent…

The first thing that makes people notice Bill is the balloons he always has with him. He roams the city in preparation to create a balloon animal for a crying kid on the street, as well as entertain with balloon animals in bars, birthday parties, etc. 

  The first thing I personally noticed about Bill when my friends and I sat near him was that he looked like Santa Claus. Best part is, he knew fairly well that he resembled the seasonal, jolly man in the red and white suit. He smiled so big when we said “hi” that we got to see the full effect of the ‘Santa Happiness’ on his face. This made us comfortable with his character almost instantly. 

My friend started the conversation with telling him that she knew him from a birthday party she went to when she was younger. And he said “I don’t doubt that! When I first started, I did birthday parties for some kids. Now, those same kids have grown up and are asking me to do the birthday parties for their kids!” Immediately, we knew Bill would have plenty of stories to tell us about his life experience. 

He began his life-story with telling us where he’s travelled in the world; he listed so many places that the only places I understood were Haiti in 1985, Mexico in 1970-something, the entire USA and all of Canada. Not only had he been listing off the countries that he went to, he was also listing the years of every trip he had made. At this early point in conversation I knew I could relate to this man because of how detail-oriented he was. Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you that I am equally as detail oriented when it comes to selective dates of my life, and their lives! The only difference at this point in conversation was that he was talking in a way that suggested he was either in the CIA for whatever country, or he was secretly a genius and just hadn’t been discovered yet. Either way, this was the kind of man who would be able to relate to all sorts of people due to his amount of travel, cultural diversity (even though he was white as snow), and his open mind.

My friends and I believe very strongly in God, and we want to know where other people are, spiritually, in our city. So we actually paused our conversation with Bill and prayed over our chicken nuggets, fries, and burgers before eating. I could tell my roommate was dying to know what he believed just as badly as I wanted to know. Luckily she had greater courage and said “What do you believe?” And he responded with “Well depends on what you mean. What do I believe about science? Theology? Religion? Philosophy? I could talk about all those topics for hours!” Thank goodness we had enough time to hear what he thought about all those topics. 

We really practiced our listening skills when he spoke, but he was so entertaining we loved to listen. His words were : “I believe in the name of God, and I do believe God has actually saved my life numerous times.” He started off with a story that would prove his belief in God’s existence…

He was in Toronto with a buddy of his, and as they were walking around, they saw a group of approximately 10 guys walking towards them. In the GTA, we call these dangerous groups “gangs“, and they are usually identified by the way they approach you. If the group approaches you saying “Hey, can we share our faith with you?”, they’re probably some type of Christians trying to evangelize to you, therefore, not gang members. If they say “Sorry to do this to you man, but we have to kill you”, then you’ve definitely run yourself into a gang confrontation. 

His friend was somehow able to get away with Bill’s help and distraction. Then it was just Bill and these dangerous men who weren’t going to walk away until Bill was lifeless on the Toronto streets. 

Then, it came time for Bill to pray for his own life. 

God’s Response: Bill’s theatrical training.

How? Yeah I had no idea either. So at this point in the story, Bill’s got some serious explaining to do.

He explains to us how he somehow, unbelievably got all the guys lined up and figured out which one was their “head member”, “the boss”, you get the idea… Once Bill had figured this guy out, he pulled out his theatre training he got when he was learning to be an entertainer and told the alpha of the gang; “Hey, wanna race?” That gang member looked at him in such a twisted way, and strangely, he agreed to a race.

So Bill starts running, and being a large, older fellow against a young, fit man, he knew the race was useless. What I didn’t understand, and what Bill had to explain was that Bill was leading the leader away from the rest of his gang and towards the main streets. How smart is this man?!

Another answer to Bill’s prayer was that a car was starting to drive by, and Bill aimed directly for the front of the car, grabbed the gang leader and allowed themselves both to be put dangerously in front of the vehicle. Once the couple in the car realized what was going on, they asked Bill what he needed them to do. Bill said “Take this car into reverse and keep driving” (The goal being that they would drive back in to the main, busy streets). 

By this point, the gang members disperse, Bill leaves, and no one was killed… 

As Bill returns home to his buddy and all his other friends, no one believes he is even alive because of what his buddy had told the rest of their friends. The gang was real, the fear worse, and the ending even more horrifying… Who gets surrounded by a gang and walks away not just unharmed, but alive in Toronto?

This has been the story of Bill’s faith in God. He went home that night and every night after giving thanks to the God that saved his life, over and over again. 

Next, I can tell you more about Bill’s religion, hobbies, talents, work, opinions and where you can potentially hear from him again…

Until next time!