Downtown 3/18/2012-Last trip of winter

But this will be your chance to tell about your faith. --Luke 21:13

This was a verse I heard two messages on in about 24 hours since Sunday morning. Although, both men speaking on it had a slightly different perspective and intent, both views were stunning in the application to what happened on this trip. I was really looking forward to this trip when I woke up (I'm back to working nights). Since it is daylight savings time again, I can go late on Sunday afternoon and still get some quality daytime hours in before it gets dark. Also, it had been very cold the last few days and I was sure the need downtown would be great. However, because it was so cold many of the homeless had found shelter somewhere other than the normal places where I find them (at least that was my guess). I had bought some burgers when I got down there, but struggled the first hour and a half finding people. I did end up tracking down a few 'regulars', one was Allan. He actually put two words together in response to the question of whether he wanted some water or not. "Water, yeah." That's a long conversation for him. But overall, the trip was pretty uneventful until the last 10 or 15 minutes or so. It was getting kind of late. The sun had gone down, but it was still light out. I decided to try going down to the area where I went last fall where I met people living in the doorways of shops on Wall St near 7th. I was driving up to a corner to go around the block when I saw a man walking up to the corner right where I was. I had the window down on the passenger side and called out to him asking if he needed some food. He immediately came over to the car and said, "Yes, thank you. God bless you." His name was Pablo and while I reached over to give him some bottled water another man came up behind him, asking if I had some food for him too. His name was Juan. Well, they both received food and water and then the first man, Pablo, seeing some blankets in the back of my car asked if I had one for him. I answered "Sure, but let me pull around the corner and park." I was still stopped at the corner and I needed to get out of the way of traffic. So I pulled around the corner and got out and gave him a blanket. I was still in a red zone, so I couldn't stay there for long either. Well Pablo, received his blanket, he had one but it had gotten wet in all the rain we had over the last couple of days. He left and I had to pull the car up the street about 20 feet to get out of the red zone. After doing that, I was looking through my remaining bags to see how many burgers I had left to give out. As I was counting up the last of them (I had four left), I noticed a man under a blanket on the sidewalk just opposite from where I was parked. He had pulled the blanket back and was looking at me. I still had the window down. Now when I had first pulled up to this spot I noticed the blanket and could see that someone was under it. I even felt a small quiet prompting that said, "Help that person." Part of the etiquette of the street is that you typically don't roust people who are totally covered up under their blanket. But now this guy had pulled back the blanket and was looking at me. "Hey, do you need some food?" I called out. He quickly answered, yes and came over to the car. When he got up, I noticed that someone else was under the blanket too. I gave him the four remaining burgers and asked if he needed some water too. He told me I was a 'lifesaver'. I asked him if he needed any socks or clothes and he said yes to that too. I told him to go ahead and take the food back to his spot and come on back and we'd look through the clothes I had in the back. It turned out his name was Ralph and he was 'living' there with his wife and mother on the street. I gave him two more blankets, a couple of pairs of shoes, sweaters and some caps too. Whatever he needed I gave. Before leaving him I asked if I could pray for him and he was obviously moved at the offer. When I put my arm around his shoulders he laid his head on my shoulder. I told him, "The One who carried the cross, is the One who will carry you through these difficult times." It was as though Jesus was standing right there with us.

So what does the verse above have to do with this. Well, the two perspectives pointed out, first how a testimony can be about what you once were and how you are now transformed, but also what you are believing God for now. I had been looking forward to this trip so much and was just about to give up at it being fruitful when I felt led to go down by the skid row area. I was looking for God to come through and turn this trip into a memorable one and here in about 15 minutes an unbelievable turn of events occurred. Secondly, the 'testimony' happens when you're out among nonbelievers and you are there as a witness for Jesus. The 'Great Commission' of Matthew 28 states that "I will be with you always" and is in the context of taking His message out into the world. That's when His power is on display. What a lesson. What an incredible 15 minutes it was. --Until next week. --John