Today's trip downtown started at the local grocery store when I went to buy loaves of bread. I usually get six loaves and along with other food items I have six full bags to give out each week. Today I put six loaves in the cart and started to move on down the aisle when I felt the Lord prompting me to buy more. I had taken about a half a dozen steps and knew I needed to buy more. You may recall last week at the very last encounter with Richard Brown some other people walked up asking for food and I had none left. I'm learning to follow the Lord's leading in these things and walked back and got two more loaves of bread. I went back home and got all the other supplies ready and took off. I was given a couple of bags of shoes Sunday night so I brought a couple pairs of those with me too.
I arrived downtown at about 10:45 am and soon found Tyrone under the I-10 at Main St. I couldn't stay there since it was a no stopping zone so we didn't talk much. He thanked me for the help and said, "God bless you." I've learned from that response that they usually haven't eaten in a while and are about out of money too. I drove down a couple of blocks to 15th St and turned left. I don't think I've ever gone down this street before. I drove a couple of blocks down and just past Broadway I saw a man standing/leaning up against a building on the other side of the street. I called out to him and showed him a bag. This is a pretty small street with not a lot of traffic so he came across to the car and I handed him the bag of food. He was Latino and as he approached I said "comida". He said in very broken English "Thank you". I asked if he needed some "agua" and showed him the jugs of water I had and he said "Oh, yes". Then he started talking about there being no jobs. He said there were "Many Mexicans coming to California and there are no jobs." He said this a couple of times. We all know how our state's economy is struggling right now. I know it must be difficult for the people living on the fringes of our society to get by during these times. I didn't realize it right then, but the Lord was preparing me for my next encounter around the corner. Oh, by the way, his name was Juan.
I pulled up to the next corner and turned right. I was on Olive St now. I was driving towards the uptown area. I saw a fire station on the left and firemen out washing their trucks. On the right I passed a group of four Latino men sitting on the sidewalk in the shade of an abandoned auto body repair shop. I drove past them as I usually don't stop for groups of people but prefer to help the loners. However, I again heard the call on my heart, "John, you have extra food today. Perhaps these are the ones you brought it for!" I drove around the block and came back to where they were and parked right in front of them. I held up a bag of food and asked them if they needed "Comida?" Their response was quick. They got up and came over to the car and took the bag of food. I ended up giving them two bags of food and two gallon jugs of water. I was about to drive away and thought perhaps they could use some of the clothing I had in the trunk. So I got out and opened the trunk and gave out probably 10 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of jeans, blankets and shirts. They were thanking me profusely. I think only one of them spoke and understood much English. I then told them in my broken Spanish that I only spoke a little Spanish but I wanted to pray for them. I had to pray in English but I prayed for these men. When I finished and opened my eyes all of them had taken their caps off and closed their eyes and had their heads bowed. I was almost in tears. When I finished praying another man had just walked up and asked me for help. He showed me his torn jacket. I opened the trunk again and gave him more stuff. I ended up giving them another bag of food and another gallon of water. I left with a chorus of "thank yous". I drove down the street about a block or so and pulled over. I wanted to write down what had just happened so I wouldn't forget anything. I was parked in front of a building at 1220 S Olive St writing this stuff down when a van pulled up in front of me and drove inside that building. There was a garage door that automatically went up and while the van waited for the door to go up I noticed a black (expensive) car inside the building with a personalized license plate. The plate said, "READY 1". I'm not sure that there was any significance to that license plate for me but I sure was thankful I was "ready" for that group of men I had just met. I can't praise God enough for what He did.
Before leaving I was able to help Willie, Allen, Doug and Matthew. I hadn't seen Allen since right before the storms hit back in December. Allen is probably one of the dirtiest of the homeless people I deal with. I could only get him to nod his head when I asked him if he needed stuff today. I gave him food and water today and also a hygiene bag. I remember he had a nasty welt on his forehead the last time I saw him. That was gone but his face was so dirty. When I prayed with him today I thanked God for getting Alan through the winter. He was still dressed like it was winter. When I left him it looked like he was actually pulling stuff out of the hygiene bag. I showed him the wipes and hope he was about to use them on his face. The last man Matthew was curled up on a very small mattress by the freeway on 18th St. When I walked over and talked with him it seemed like something was bothering him. He didn't get up or even act too excited about receiving any of the food items or the blanket. When I asked if he was OK he told me he had a toothache. Well, we all know that can ruin your day. In fact, I just had some dental work done and a toothache usually ends up making my ear hurt too. I had some Hall's cough drops in the car and they have some antiseptic that helps dull the pain a little bit so I went and got them and gave them to him. He opened them up and put one in his mouth immediately. Now the age old question of "Where does a homeless man get good dental work done?" I don't have an answer for that one yet. I pray the temporary relief I gave him will help. --Until next week. John
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