Downtown 8/28/2011

Last night was the second trip in the late evening to meet with the homeless living in doorways. I was really looking forward to seeing who God would put in my path. I got down there a little earlier than last week with the plan that I would check out some of the other streets near the one I was on last week. The skid row streets (5th, 6th and 7th) are always filled with people. However, the adjacent streets get the spill-over of people wanting to have access to some of the services down there, but not wanting to live in the midst of so many people. The adjacent streets, particularly those south of 7th street have an abundance of retail shops. There are several districts in and around 7th and Olympic that are quite busy, especially on the weekend. As a result of the tremendous amount of foot traffic on these streets, there is a lot of trash at the end of the day. So a lot of homeless people take the opportunity to go through the streets and trash cans looking for items to recycle. Consequently, when their day is done they simply find a spot on the sidewalk in front a store and crash for the night. Just about every street will have a few people sleeping on the sidewalk for several blocks away from the skid row area. Most of these streets are poorly lit and the people can almost blend in the with the trash and debris laying on the sidewalks and streets and go practically unnoticed throughout the night.
Well, the first encounter down in this area, (my first actual encounter was with Kenny at the Jack in the Box where I bought all the burgers) was with a woman named Mary. It wasn't quite dark yet, but she was already covered up for the night. I didn't know who it was under that blanket when I walked up. I try to gently ask if I can't see the person under the blanket if they are OK and then if they could use some food. I guess Mary had just dozed off because she woke up and gave out a bit of a scream. However, she did accept the help and prayer and thanked me for stopping.
After leaving Mary I was planning on going back to the same street as last week, but I felt led to go over to Olive St near the fire station by Pico. I'm glad I followed that leading because it turned out to be the encounter of the night. Olive is a one-way street in this part of town. I've had some other memorable encounters there in the past. One was over a year ago when I had taken some extra loaves of bread downtown on a prompting from the Spirit. When I drove down Olive I saw four men sitting in the doorway of an abandoned auto body shop. I drove by and didn't stop at first because, "I don't do groups of people." Then I remembered I had the extra bread and figured, "Maybe this is why I brought the extra stuff." It turned out to be the right move, not only did I help those four men that day, but two others walked up while I was with them. Last night, as I drove by the fire station, I saw three people sitting on a small retaining wall about twenty or so feet beyond the fire station. I've helped a couple of other people at this exact same spot before. I once again thought, "I don't do groups", but decided to stop and ask them if they needed some food anyway. There was a woman and two men sitting there. The woman jumped up and practically screamed, "Yes, we need food!" They were on the left hand side of the street and since Olive is one-way I pulled over right there and got out. The woman's name was Stella and the two men were Jorge and Jose. Stella's first words when I got out were, "God is going to bless you so much for stopping and helping us." Throughout my time with the three of them, she couldn't stop praising God for sending me. I ended up giving them clothes as well as food and water. Since it has been so hot here lately, I had over a dozen bottles of water on ice in the back seat of my car, so that was a big hit throughout the trip too. When I asked if I could pray for them before leaving, Stella said, "Oh, yes, but let me pray first!" The other two men gathered around and we had a group hug as we prayed. I don't know who was blessed more by me stopping because I was blessed in a big way.
As the night went on this encounter pointed to a great spiritual lesson that became more and more evident as the night went on, culminating in one of the last encounters before leaving the area. Before that encounter, though, I met with three others. Just a street over on Hill, I found Juan living on the sidewalk behind a small concrete wall that protected some sort of a water valve. I think I met him about a year ago the same day that I met those four men I mentioned above. He was telling me that day, and last night also, that there are many "Mexicans here and there are no jobs and no money for them." He warned me to be careful that I might get robbed by some who are desperate. Directly across the street from Juan another man was sitting on the sidewalk leaning up against a building. His name was Benjamin and although he was a little wary of me at first, when he found out I only wanted to help him, he ended up being quite thankful. Often times, when you see someone under a blanket on the sidewalk, you have no idea if it's a man or a woman. Such was the case at 8th and San Pedro when I met Leva. I wasn't sure if she was kidding me with her name at first (you know, like leva me alone). But she was thankful I stopped. What was kind of weird was it was completely dark out and she was under her blanket (yet with her feet hanging out over the curb into the street) and she had on sunglasses. Maybe it was easier to just wear the sunglasses than to hold them in her hand or next to her while she slept and run the risk of someone taking them.

This brings me to the second "Juan" of the night. He was sleeping on the sidewalk near 10th St. and Maple. It was somewhat of a normal encounter, he said he could use some food and water and accepted the help and was thankful. I prayed briefly for him, yet his attitude the whole time seemed to be that he wanted me to leave as quickly as possible. There could be a number of legitimate reasons for him wanting me to leave quickly, but I try so see these people as God sees them and I try to understand the encounter and everything about it as God would. I couldn't help but see the contrast between this man and the encounter with Stella and her friends. I have mentioned before the difference I've learned between being happy to have received stuff and being thankful for receiving stuff. The difference is personal. This is a biblical mandate expressed in Romans 1:21. The essence is you're happy to received much needed help, but it is expressed in thankfulness towards the giver (ultimately God) as opposed to just being happy over the stuff received. Last night the difference between Stella and her friends thankfulness and this man, Juan's, happiness was just that, but I noticed something else this time. The greater thankfulness was met with greater blessing. I stayed longer with Stella because she and her friends received me with much more thankfulness and in return, I opened up the trunk and gave them other items they needed. Therefore, the greater thankfulness resulted in a greater blessing! It seems so obvious when it's played out in front of you, yet I wonder why I've missed this lesson before. You remember the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers and how only one returned to thank him. That one received the full blessing that the others missed out on. I wonder how God feels when people attend church and leave quickly because they are too busy and eager to 'get on with the day' than to linger and enjoy His presence among His people. How much of "the extra blessing" do we miss out on because we won't take the time to enjoy His presence on a daily basis, whether it's in His word or in prayer? Wow, the opportunities we miss could be staggering.
By the time I left Juan I had two burgers left. I headed over to Cloud Nine Alley, but gave the last two burgers to another man laying on the sidewalk by himself. It was completely dark out since the encounter with Stella and her friends. I asked this man what his name was and he told me, but I didn't write it down and I have forgotten it. I really don't like not being able to tell about these people without using their names. Sometimes, I don't get their names, but most of the time I do. All these people are people of worth in God's eyes. They have names and I wish to always honor them with their name. This man was awake when I drove up, I didn't get out of the car because he got up and came over to me to receive the food. I handed him the last of the food and we talked briefly before I pulled away. I regret not writing his name down.
The last three visits to Cloud Nine Alley, Ray has not been there. Well, last night he was. We probably talked for over an hour. He had had a diabetic siezure and had been in the hospital, that's why I hadn't seen him. He seemed to be in good shape last night.
These trips are becoming more and more about encounters with the living God as much as they are about encounters with people. I don't know if this feeling is accentuated because I've been going at night or not, but it reminds me of the old line, "only when it's dark enough can you see the stars". I've really been blessed these last two weeks to "meet the stars in the doorways downtown." --Until next week. John