People on Sundays

James Colvin, who says he never wanted to be a preacher, thumbs open his bible to the pages of Theolossians as he talks about devils, God’s calling, desperation, unemployment, illegal immigrants and the ticket he got for solicitation on Saturday. “I am a child of God, that God has chosen,” he said, standing outside his home, a dilapidated RV, in the Buy For Less parking lot at Hefner and Penn in Oklahoma City.

James says he got a ticket for solicitation for “flying” his sign near the Toys ‘R Us store at Memorial and Penn in Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon. He said the ticket would cost him $160, but without his tools or a job, Colvin doesn’t know how he’ll pay the ticket. He’s pawned his tools from construction work that he used to do and he’s trying to get home to California, where they pay people for recycling. In the mean time, he’ll have to show up in court to contest the ticket. James blames the government and the economy for his unemployment, but mostly he blames illegal immigrants who, he says, chased him off of job sites. “They hated me because of my love for Jesus Christ.”

James preaches to me about Jesus for nearly an hour. As I thank him for talking with me he says, “I don’t know if you’re here for good or if you’re here for evil, but it makes my day that you came.”

Since my work week begins on Sunday morning, I’m going to try to find a new subject each week and continue this photo column called ‘People on Sundays.’

-John Clanton