Downtown 2/12/2012

"Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love, But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little." Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." --Luke 6:47-48

This response of Jesus was spoken to the Pharisees who who were chastising him over allowing a 'sinful' woman to touch him as she poured costly oil over his feet at a dinner party. The point Jesus makes to these religious leaders is over her overwhelming response of affection towards him as opposed to their lack of even the most basic respect towards him. I see this played out many times as I encounter folks downtown in various states of need. After all this time I've learned to notice certain things about people's condition that will indicate their need or receptiveness to my help. When I arrived downtown yesterday I drove straight to the Jack in the Box to buy a bunch of hamburgers. I parked in the parking lot and noticed one man standing by the entrance and another man sleeping in the corner of the parking lot next to his shopping cart. I walked over to the man sleeping to see if I recognized him. I actually didn't know he was sleeping until I got over there and then realized I didn't know who he was. If he was awake I would have told him to wait there until I came back out and I'd give him some food. However, since he appeared to be sound asleep I left him alone for the time being. I walked back to the entrance and noticed the other man had gone inside. He was a fairly young Latino man wearing simply a t-shirt and jeans. He was standing now, by the soda machine with a cup of water. I ordered the twenty burgers and while I waited he was given his 'order' of two tacos. Two tacos at Jack in the Box cost 99 cents. With the cup of water it was easy to see this man was on a limited budget. He ate his tacos and drank some more water. By this time my order was ready. It was about 1:15 in the afternoon and the place was fairly crowded. He had gotten a table by himself in the corner. Before leaving the counter I asked the person serving me to put two of the burgers in a separate bag and I walked over to this man and said, "These are for you." I didn't ask him his name or try to engage in any conversation. I wanted this to be as inconspicuous as possible and I turned and walked back to the counter, picked up the two bags and walked out without looking back. I doubt if anyone else noticed. When I got outside I was greeted by another man looking for some cash to get home to Whittier (I gave him $3). I walked over to the car and set the two bags of burgers down. Just as I did that a man named Kenny rode up on a bicycle with two large bags of recyclables. I had given him a pair of shoes a few weeks back. They were already looking pretty thrashed, but they were holding up so far. I gave him a couple of the burgers and commented about the guy sleeping on the other side of the parking lot. He said, "Yeah, he's been there since last night." When I mentioned that he's probably hungry by now, Kenny said, "Yeah, we're all hungry around here." We talked for another minute or so and he went on inside and I walked over to the man sleeping. His name is Antonio and yes he was hungry. He woke up right away when I started talking to him and was thankful for the food. I gave him some water as I drove out of the parking lot. Within about fifteen minutes of arriving downtown I was able to assist four men. The trip was off to a good start!

From that point on the trip slowed down considerably. I always go down a couple of the alleys nearby where I've had the barbecues. One of them had a man named Jose sleeping on the ground. He woke up immediately when I called to him. I asked him if "Necesita comida?" (Do you need food?) and he replied, "Tiene?" (You have some?). While we were having this exchange someone was driving down the alley behind me and they honked their horn at me to hurry up. I'm learning to ignore my immediate feelings to respond in anger because it blows my mood for awhile. I left Jose after giving him some food and water (he was very happy as I drove away). I've mentioned Mary a few times recently. She sits on a corner on 16th St. near Los Angeles St like she's waiting for someone to come by and pick her up (she's been there for several months now). She's always bundled up (because it's cold). She hasn't engaged in much conversation with me, but today she waved to me as I drove by and came over to the car quickly when I stopped. She still wasn't real talkative, but I think she's warming up to me nonetheless. I asked her if she needed anything special and she said "No", she was only looking for shelter. That, by the way, is what most homeless people are looking for.

I drove back over to Alameda St and down near 4th where Robert lives. He had on a new pair of jeans. Someone in the area must have given them to him and I commented how nice he looked in them. I asked if there was anything he needed and he replied in a voice barely above a whisper, "Naw, I'm OK." I told him I loved him and would see him again soon (yes I gave him some food and water too). Around the corner from Robert and a little ways down the street was a man named Deacon sitting on the steps of an industrial building. This is an industrial area and not much is going on there on the weekends. He had his shoes off and was rubbing his feet (probably has athlete's food). He was about to put his socks back on when I pulled up and since I had my window down I asked him if he needed some food. He responded "Oh yeah." to that question so I pulled over to where he was and parked. I gave him some burgers and some water and asked if he needed some new socks. Well, of course, he needed some new socks and as I was getting them out of the trunk he asked, "You don't by chance have some size 12 shoes do you?" I told him, "Yeah, I think I got a pair for you." By the time I left he ended up with new everything except jeans. I gave him shirts, a blanket and even a pillow. He put the new shoes and socks on immediately and talked about what a blessing it was that I came by. I asked him where he was from and he said Moreno Valley. I then asked what brought him out here. He told me that four months ago his wife did something that 'hurt him deeply'. He was devastated and was only now starting to get his mind back together again. We talked for quite awhile about his situation and I acknowledged how hurtful it is. It occurred to me that last summer directly across the street from where we were right then I met a man named Charles from Medford, Texas who told me exactly the same story. The only difference was that Charles' hurtful experience occurred fifteen years before and not four months. That was his response to why he was out in California. You may recall last week I talked about John Mellon and how his girlfriend had left him three months ago and he was still devastated. People can become homeless for a variety of reasons. Some for economic reasons and some for relational reasons. We are all flawed people. Sometimes our flaws manifest in more visible ways than others. Below the surface of peoples lives that we see are their own set of hurts and troubles. My guess is that Mary, whom I spoke of above, has something very similar going on inside her that these men are trying to cope with too. Please pray for their broken and troubled hearts.

The last two men I helped were Michael Wayne under the 4th St bridge (I've helped him many times before) and a man named Nelson from Pasadena. Michael Wayne was in a state of shock over Whitney Houston passing away the night before. While we don't know at this time what the cause of her death is, Michael was using it as a wake-up call to clean-up his act and stay away from the temptations and bad influences that seem to continually plague him. I've been telling him that for the last year and half that I've known him. We'll see if it really hits home this time. Nelson was sleeping on the dock of that cold storage warehouse that I first saw Melvin at a couple of months ago. After helping him with some food, water, socks and a blanket I warned him that Melvin had been arrested for sleeping there because it was private property. When I left him he had laid back down to go to sleep.

When I began this writing I started with the story of Jesus and his exchange with the Pharisees over the 'sinful' woman who poured the expensive oil over his feet. The Pharisees condemned Jesus for associating with the outcasts of society. They felt not only are the outcasts unfit for their attention they are also unworthy of God's care or concern. Jesus said just the opposite is true. These people know they are in desperate need of God's help and are worthy of His care and attention too. It is the same underlying point of the stories of the prodigal son, the woman at the well and Zacheus the tax collector who was up in a tree. God cares and is interested in reaching all of us. My passion and desire (and what I pray for all the time) is to be God's light in the darkest of places. Even on the streets and back alleys of downtown Los Angeles. Until next week. --John