Downtown 1/31/2011

I'm not sure how to begin to tell about Monday's trip. It's taken me a couple of days to process what happened or what didn't happen. I was prayed up before going and was really looking forward to a good trip, but things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. In fact, it was one of the more lackluster trips I've had and left me wondering what happened. After last week's trip, you may recall, I learned a valuable lesson from a man refusing the help I offered. Even though everyone else last week was in great need of the help, somehow the one who didn't want help had the lesson for me. In the days leading up to this trip I started getting some urgings to start going to Long Beach. I've gone there once before but couldn't really find the places where the homeless were living. Since that time, which was over a year and a half ago, I've gotten some leads as to where to go but was still undecided on when to make that trip again. When I began praying Monday morning about that day's trip, Long Beach didn't enter my mind so off I went to L.A. I started by going to the garment district to begin stocking up on socks. By the end of February I'll be able to start going on Sundays again and that store won't be open on those days. I do understand that part of the problem in the disappointment of this trip has to do with it being a weekday and encounters are brief, however, I didn't really get engaged in conversation with anyone, let alone pray with anyone. Sundays are far more conducive to this. But Monday was disappointing in that Arturo wasn't there (looked like he had been gone a couple of days) and my friends at Lincoln Park weren't there either. At the end of the day I went back to Lincoln Park and found another couple there that I was able to help. The woman spoke enough English and was able to tell me that Phillip and Nancy are still in the area though. Hopefully, I'll see them again if I keep looking for them. A few blocks from the Lincoln Park area I did find Ricky who was very happy to see me.
So I alluded to a lesson in the disappointment of this trip. So what happened? In the middle of the trip I drove down part of skid row and took a side street (it might have been Stanford or Towne St). I usually only drive down the skid row streets once a month or so and pass through there taking side streets a little more often. When you drive down skid row you see scores and scores of homeless people, usually sitting on the sidewalk. My guess is they are waiting for the missions to open and feed them. There are several missions in that area and that is what attracts so many homeless. One woman who was sitting on the sidewalk on 6th St came over to the car to get the food I offered her. She apologized for having to hold her pants up (her jeans were several sizes to big). I had some jeans in the trunk, but the womens sizes were all too small for her. Another couple around the corner from her were pretty happy to receive some help too, but the image that has stayed with me these last couple of days was the image I saw on one of the side streets. There were probably 6 or 7 homeless on one side of this particular street (the side with the shade from the buildings) and a couple of men about 20 feet apart on the sunny side of the street. There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary about them, I've seen this many times before, but the blank hopeless looks on their faces is what has stayed with me. Last night I was praying about the whole trip, the disappointment of it and these images I just can't seem to shake, asking God, "What's up with all this? What am I supposed to learn from it and what am I supposed to do about it?" The response came quick enough, "Start prayer-walking on skid row!" WHAT? I could think of all kinds of reasons why this would be pointless. Then I was reminded that within a month of prayer-walking on Cloud Nine Alley a church was started there and about a month ago one of my buddies, Gary, living in the parking lot there made it off the streets. Who was I to say no to God. On skid row I've seen street preachers preaching on the streets around the missions, and relief groups serving meals for a couple hundred people. I can think of plenty of reasons why I can't do that. I'm thinking my gifting is more geared to just talking with people one on one and developing relationships. Then again, maybe the reason for doing this is not for their benefit, but for my development. For years I have prayed that God would give me a heart for the lost. This could be ground zero for that. At this point, I've been given only enough of a vision to do one thing, prayer-walk. So that's where I'll begin. From the brink of disappointment to the threshold of the next adventure. I think I could be starting graduate school next week. --Until then. John