Downtown 6/20/2011-The last day of Spring

"Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others."

Another simple, yet profound quote from a collection of quotes from Mother Teresa in a book titled, Everything Starts with Prayer. I was given this remarkable little book yesterday as a Father's Day present. About six years ago I had the opportunity to go on a short-term missions trip. When I returned everything was somehow different. I saw things through different eyes. My heart had changed. I began to ask God where I was to "aim" this great experience I had been given. I started praying for Him to give me a 'heart for the lost'. A few months later I was given a video on prayer-walking which I not only watched 3 times, I also took notes. I decided it was something I could do. For some reason, I now also had an insatiable desire to read books about missionaries. Missionaries from the past, missionaries in this day, missionaries to primitive cultures, our culture, distant cultures, it didn't matter where or when, I simply couldn't get enough of them to read. I started to notice they all had something in common. Their mission work was dependent upon God and prayer. I kept on praying to receive this heart for the lost. I remember one morning in early January shortly after I had began regularly prayer-walking in the area near our church. My father-in-law was suffering through the final stages of cancer. On my nights off from working I would sit with him. This particular morning while prayer-walking I was struck with the idea of how many others in the homes that I was walking by were going through a similar experience. I started to feel very uneasy about it because I knew there had to be others going through the same thing. Then it suddenly struck me, "Well, what about people going through divorce? How about financial problems or relationships with the kids or kids with their parents?" I started to get in a real panic about the many problems that each of these homes might represent. Could it be 30% or 50% of the homes I was prayer-walking by were in some sort of crisis? It might even be more than that! How was I going to reach into each of these homes?"
You begin to see how the line above from Mother Teresa caught my attention! Not only that line, "Without asking God for love (that heart for the lost I was looking for), we cannot possess it or be able to give it to others.", but also the title of the book, "Everything starts with prayer". If you want to see changes in your life or changes in your heart, start praying about it. So today, this morning, as I took off for downtown, it was with this heightened sense of heart for others and a desire to just give out God's love and care for the people I was to meet. I really can't describe how eager and expectant I was to get started. As I approached downtown I felt led to get off at Santa Fe Ave. It's an exit I rarely get off at. When you take this exit, you have two options, either Mateo St or Santa Fe. For some reason I chose the Mateo exit. As soon as I chose that direction, I saw a homeless man about halfway down the ramp from the stop sign. As I pulled up in the line of cars and trucks, the line stopped where I was right next to this guy (and he was on the driver side too), his name was Doug. This started a day where every single encounter was met with probably the most appreciative responses I've ever received in one visit. The next guy I met was Doug, from St Louis. I had given him some food, but when I asked if he needed some water, you would have thought he just won the lottery. I'm going to have to get used to the fact that now that it's summer, water is going to be more needed than ever. The last guy I met before I came home was a man named Phil. I guess I've met him before, but I didn't really recognize him. Apparently, he has declined my help before because he said, "I'm not turning down your help today." He was escpecially needful today. What a blessing to have been able to be there for these people today. --Until next week. John

P.S. Sorry about the "I-itis" in the first paragraph. I didn't know how else to explain my identification with the passage and the book. It is a remarkable little book. So many of the homeless people I meet are simply lonely in addition to their poverty. They long for someone to just listen to them. I'll end with another short quote from this book:

"I remember some time ago I visited a very wonderful home for old people. There were about forty there and they had everything, but they were all looking towards the door. There was not a smile on their faces, and I asked the sister in charge of them, 'Sister, why are these people not smiling? Why are they looking towards the door?' And she, very beautifully, had to answer and give the truth: 'It's the same every day. They are longing for someone to come and visit them.' This is great poverty!"

---Mother Teresa, "Everything starts with Prayer