ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A smile and words of encouragement sure can go a long way. A faith-based poet in Rochester is on a mobile ministry of sorts to remind us all to never give up.
Marvin Adams has made a lot of new friends the last couple of years.
"Wegmans, here's Panera and a church. The barbershop and Alpha Omega. I met someone at the bookstore there and I sent poems to him and his name is Alan," Adams said as he looked through his list of contacts in his cellphone.
Adams says he has met hundreds of people the last couple of years all over Greater Rochester. He hands out poems to anyone willing to take one.
"God is concerned about each and every one of us regardless of race, color, creed or whatever," said Adams. "I've got my little Bible here."
He connects with people much the same way he did in 1968 serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam when he'd write to his bride, Gloria.
"These are all the poems I have written. There's over 300 poems in here," said Adams. "This one I wrote for my wife. If I could tell my story of how I met my wife, if I could only tell you how her love has changed my life. I am running out of space right now. There is more that I can say."
He never stopped writing. Only now, he says God wakes him up to do it and share it. Every day, Marvin and Gloria go somewhere to meet someone to share God's love, spread joy and encouragement.
"That is his ministry," said Gloria. "I have to go to the store and I am running around getting groceries and he is over in the corner somewhere sharing his poems. Or I'm at the laundromat and he is somewhere sharing his poems."
He carries copies of his poems with him at all times. As fate would have it, on this gorgeous morning, he met Edna Zavala for the first time and offered her his poems. She accepted.
"I think it is a blessing of God," said Zavala from Rochester.
Marvin and Gloria know all about blessings. They say their faith is stronger now more than ever after first Gloria and then Marvin got COVID. She was in the hospital for seven days, and Marvin was hospitalized for 19. It's taken him nearly a year to recover.
He says he couldn't have done it without his faith and Gloria. He says he is motivated more than ever to do what he can to help lift others.
"The secret to a happy life is to be sure your love is real. Love must be the key my friend, but Christ completes the deal," said Adams.