After receiving some very disappointing news on Friday I was faced with the task of not only processing the bad news for myself, but how do I encourage the homeless who live in the land of disappointment everyday? Can I really be truthful in encouraging the homeless to pray and look to God for help if I too am disappointed? The Bible teaches us that Jesus will be with us always, even when life hurts. But what about the pain? Paul's great verse in his letter to the Romans teaches us that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." In this verse Paul is saying there is purpose in the pain. We may not understand it at the time, but we need to trust in an all-powerful God to ultimately make it so. With this in mind I headed downtown today.
I decided to get off the freeway at Santa Fe Ave and head north. I wanted to start in places I normally don't go to and turned east on the 6th St bridge and went over into East Los Angeles. I remembered I had seen homeless people living on the sidewalks of these bridges over the LA River. Well there weren't any that I could see on the 6th St bridge but as I headed back across to downtown over the 4th St. bridge I saw a man sleeping on the sidewalk near the end of the bridge on the LA side of the river. I felt this would be a good person to try to help but I also saw a guy on a bicycle who is like a cop on a bike at the end of the bridge. I couldn't legally stop and park there so I parked on the street at the end of the bridge and watched what was about to unfold. As I suspected the cop on the bike went over to the man sleeping and woke him up. The man immediately started shouting obsenities. The cop remained calm but waited until the man got up and left the area. After the cop left the area I followed the man down the street and asked him if he needed any food. I pulled the car over and got out and talked with him. His name was Fernando and he was from Puerto Rico. He spoke very quietly with me. I offered him some clothes from the trunk which he accepted. I commented about his encounter with the cop while giving him some of the supplies I had for him. Then I said, "Let me pray for you before I leave" and started to pray. He then interrupted me wanting to know "What God are you praying to?" I told him I pray to Jesus. He said he prays to "The Almighty God". Knowing in the Old Testament the Jews prayed to Almighty God using the term "El Shaddai" I said, "I can pray to the Almighty God" and did so. I prayed for God's presence in his life and for the "Almighty" God to bless and protect him and as I somehow automatically ended the prayer "in Jesus' name, Amen" he again interrupted me and said, "protect me from the police!" At first I thought he said protect him from Jesus but I think he said police (he had quite an accent). Anyway, as he walked away he didn't know that in his bag of food was also a Gospel of John. Hopefully, "THE" Almighty God will blind him from his "almighty" long enough to read about the Son that was sent to die for his sins.
Well I went down to the next bridge (1st St. bridge I think) and didn't see anyone so I came back across over the same 4th St bridge again. When you get back to the LA side there is a little split in the road where you can take a side street to get off the bridge. That's what I had taken the first time. The second time I continued down the main street off the bridge and saw another homeless man sleeping a little further up this street but on the other side. I drove around and found a place to legally park as close as I could to where this man was sleeping. I took a bag of food and some water with me and walked over to him (and woke him up). His name was Ron and he was 43 years old. He gladly accepted the food and water and when I asked him if he needed any socks or anything he actually walked back to the car with me to get them. We started talking about his life and living where he is on the bridge. He referred to the place on the bridge were he stays as "his ledge". He told me if he isn't there I could leave stuff there for him. I asked him about the people living on the LA River and he told me how to get to where they are. I asked how he ended up on the streets and he said, "You want to know the truth?" I said, "Yes." He told me, "I finally just gave up." It was sad to see someone who had lost all hope. When we looked through the trunk we found a couple of shirts as well as the socks and one thing that made him very happy, a nice warm jacket. He said, "This is great, its been cold at night!" We prayed and I promised to see him again. Perhaps through prayer, patience and perserverance his hope can be restored.
In that same area I found Alfredo digging through dumpsters and Ronnie living under a bridge with about four shopping carts and a couple of those post office carts. I was able to help them both with supplies. Once again, socks were a big item with the homeless.
Before leaving I drove all the way across town to 18th near Flower St. Down 18th is where I saw Mama Kirby and Antwon last week. They weren't there but I noticed across from where I saw them last week was a small lot under a freeway off-ramp where three or four homeless people were. I didn't have much food or water left for all of them so I continued down to the next block and found two men sitting on the sidewalk in two little indentations of the wall of the building there. I had my windows down and pulled up and asked if they could use some food. Both men were older than me (probably in their late 60's). I noticed a "no stopping" sign, but since it was Sunday I was pretty sure I could get away with parking there for a couple of minutes so I got out and opened the trunk up. Their names were Michael and Les. They both needed socks and they also got some shirts. They were very thankful. Before leaving I prayed with them together. I felt it was most appropriate since we were right next to the building with the big "Jesus Saves" sign from last week. Sometimes the "signs" of God's presence are more noticeable than at other times. I don't know the stories of these two men and how they ended up on 18th street huddled in a small spot on a sidewalk at this stage in their lives. I do know that God's presence in our lives does make a difference. Fifteen years ago I was in a bad auto accident and ended up in the hospital. It was the culmination of alot of very bad things that had happened in my life at the time. As I struggled to deal with them from the hospital bed the Holy Spirit reminded me of the verse in Habakkuk that says, "The just shall live by faith." I guess it's an important verse because it's quoted three times in the New Testament. That verse gave me the courage to walk through those days then and have helped me time and again ever since. That is the "Presence" and "Hope" I seek to help these folks with each time I go down there. Until next week. --John
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