Downtown 5/27/2012

"Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him." Luke 15:1

One of the benefits of this ministry is learning to be obedient to the Spirits's leading. Recently I've been buying 16 cheeseburgers at the beginning of each trip. That usually feeds about 8-10 people. I felt led Sunday night to buy 17 or one more than usual. I've learned to just follow the leading and not question it. More on that later.

If you read last week's blog you will remember that I saw Tara, Chris and Willie in the alley where we had the last barbecue. It was great seeing them all together again and we made plans for the next barbecue for early July. So I drove over to that alley again Sunday, but only saw Chris there. He told me that Tara had left after the last weekend because of harrassment from another homeless person. Willie was still staying there but wasn't due back for awile. I ended up giving Chris 4 burgers for both him and Willie and some socks (which I didn't have last week) and a blanket. We talked at length and one of the things we talked about was a trip he made to a church that morning by bus. Although he didn't talk in detail about the message preached he did sum it up by saying it was the type of message that was very condemning. I made the comment about those type of messages that it makes you wonder where the good news is. I remember reading a book about a guy who spent some time living in a mission house for homeless people. He said every week a church group would come in and do a church service. Apparently, about nine out of ten messages were the 'you're a sinner and you're going to hell' type. He quickly realized that this type of message didn't reach very many of these people. They already knew they were sinners. I pointed out to Chris a verse in Luke 15. It's the first verse in this very famous chapter. This is the chapter that has the three parables of the 'lost things' culminating in the parable of the prodigal son. What sets the stage for those parables is the verse quoted above. If anything can be gathered from the brief detail of tax collectors and sinners gathered around Jesus listening to him talk, it could probably be assumed that he wasn't condemning them as being sinners, but more likely encouraging them to do their best and seek after God. This is the message I gave Chris. Before I left he asked me which weekend I was going to come and do the barbecue. I told him I was going to try for July 1st since I had the prior week off from work.

When I left Chris I drove west on 16th and as I came up to Central Ave there was Willie crossing the street with another man who was also at the last barbecue in October. I called out to them and Willie came over to the car. I passed some food to him through the window. The car behind me at the signal then started honking their horn because the light turned green. I hate when that happens.

I drove on down 16th and crossed San Pedro Ave. There is a small alley that turns off of 16th and goes under the I-10 freeway and then back to San Pedro Ave. Wouldn't you know it, Tara was sitting under the freeway there all by himself. He was so happy to see me. It was quite breezy under the freeway there and I just happened to bring a nice warm jacket on this trip that I was able to give him. He was suffering from a sore-throat that I'm sure will get worse from having to live outside and sleep in the open air. I filled Tara in on the events of the last 30 minutes or so and told him I was looking to do the next barbecue on July 1st. I'm so looking forward to it.

Just around the corner from there I found a couple more homeless men living on the sidewalks nearby. One was Henry whom I've helped before and the other was Antonio and I think I've helped him before too. At this point I'd given out 12 burgers and had five left. I now headed down to 8th and Wall St. On the first street west of Wall St I found a couple that I saw last week. I never did get their names last week and while I was passing some food to them another man came up to me and I gave him some food too. I asked the first couple what they thought the chances would be of me firing up a small barbecue sometime and cooking some burgers for them. I asked if they thought the police would run me off. They didn't know, of course, but they did tell me that the police do patrol the area. I'll have to check-in with the police station on 6th and Wall. Please pray that I will get the OK to go for it sometime. Before leaving that street I had two others, one woman and one man walk up to the car asking for food. In the end, I had just enough hamburgers to give one to everyone on that street. If I had not been listening to the Spirit's leading at the start of this trip, I would have been short of food. Praise God, He spoke and I listened and was able to feed and help 11 people. Until next week. John