Downtown 11/27/2011

"And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God, and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart; and he prospered." -- 2 Chronicles 31:20-21, speaking about King Hezekiah

I tend to hear messages at church and understand scripture in ways geared to bringing that message to the people I meet on the streets in downtown Los Angeles. I had read the scripture above in my personal bible reading a couple of nights ago. Then I heard a message on Sunday about a husband and wife who appeared to live a life honoring God, yet somehow there was one glaring problem in their marriage. They were childless and being advanced in years, it looked like there was no hope for a resolution to this problem. Every week I see people who are not "prospering". Many are not living a lifestyle that honors God, but a lot do have a relationship with God that is closer than you may think. So often, the street people feel so separated from God that they feel beyond His reach and undeserving of His help. I try to change their attitude about that. In doing so, it changes my attitude and my relationship with God too. Oh, the couple in the message ended up being the parents of John the Baptist. God is in the business of working miracles.

When I arrived downtown I was 'expecting' a great trip. I just felt this Sunday was going to be different, yet it started out kind of slow. I drove around for quite a while before finding people to help. The first three people I helped; Mary, Henry and Jorge were all destitute and needed assistance, but only Jorge did I have conversaton and prayer with. I drove over to the alley where I did the barbecue last month (yeah, it's been four weeks since then already) and no one is living there now. There isn't even any 'stuff' on the ground to indicate that anyone is living there now, it's all deserted. As I was about to drive down that alley, there was a man pushing his cart along an adjacent alley. His name is Henry (2nd one of the day). He looked up and said, "Oh, you're the Bread Man. Am I glad to see you." It's always nice to be welcomed. Henry has been struggling of late and said that things have been made more difficult because he and a lot of the homeless in that area had been run-off by the police and public safety patrols. Not too far from here I found Jimmy from Texas. He was all bundled up and sleeping on the sidewalk near the Jack in the Box. He was really happy to receive some help and ended up getting some clothes too. When I asked if there was anything special he needed (before I prayed for him) he said he needed to pay someone back the $10 he owed them. Ten bucks seemed to be the going rate Sunday for people needing money. I think three people asked for that same amount (No, I didn't have it to give out).

I drove over to Cloud Nine Alley and still no one is living there either. It's been over a month now and no one is there to pray for (except for Pastor Rodriguez' church). I drove on down to skid row. I parked in front of the police station and got out to start prayer-walking. I asked God to give me someone to pray for during this walk. I was hoping to see Everett Whaley from a couple of weeks ago, but I'm not real hopeful of seeing him again at this point. Anyway, about half-way through the walk a man is walking towards me with a jacket on with no shirt underneath. I don't even remember how our conversation started, but he came up to me and asked how I was doing! I've never seen this man before (his name was Jimmy), so I was a little surprised but not too surprised. I told him I was prayer-walking down there. I asked him what he was up to and he told me he was trying to get into one of the missions later, but needed to 'clear his head first." He then asked me if I would remember to pray for him! I said, "Let me pray for you right now." When I asked God to clear Jimmy's mind and help him to make good decisions I heard him groan in agreement. When we were done Jimmy told me he was hungry. I told him I had food in my car, which was parked in front of the police station and I would be back there in about twenty minutes if he wanted to meet me there. I never saw him again, although when I got back there I waited for awhile. While waiting another man walked up to me and said, "Amigo." Now I don't think that I look like I speak spanish at all, so it was surprising that this guy walked up to me and started talking in spanish. I ended up praying with him too. In the end, I had asked God to give me one person to pray with, and He ended up sending me two and one in a foreign language just to show me how awesome and in control He is!!!

Before leaving I saw Michael, who is back living under the 4th St bridge. When I pulled up he was reading a gospel of John booklet (he was in chapter 9). We talked for quite a while, probably thirty minutes or so. He ended up with a pair of shoes, but didn't need the last bag of food I had. That worked out pretty good, because I found a man named Benny on the sidewalk on 7th St. who did need it. Now when I asked Benny (he was from New York) if he needed some food I had just pulled up in my car and was still sitting in it. He thanked me for the food and then said something I'll never forget. He said, "Do you have any clothes? These clothes I have are full of bugs!" It was a plea from a man desperate for relief. I hopped out of the car and gave him a new set of clothes to wear. He was very old and extremely skinny. I had a pair of pants that I didn't think I'd be able to give away because they were so skinny in the waiste, but they appeared to be able to fit this guy. I've had people complain before about lice being in their clothes from living on the street. I tend to forget about that problem because I don't hear the complaint very often. How miserable it must be to live with that problem and not be able to do anything about it because you don't have any other clothes to wear. I'm so glad to be able to help these people. --Until next week. John