Downtown 6/25/2012

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. --Zech. 4:6b

Well this was to be the last opportunity to connect with people before the planned barbecue this coming Sunday, July 1. I needed to make the trip on a Monday and early enough to get to the wholesalers to purchase socks. I've just been pretty much out of them the last couple of weeks except for a used pair here and there that I've found. Anyway, I accomplished that part of the trip right away and then headed over to the alley where we had the barbecue last time. I had gone down it earlier, before I bought some food just to see if anyone was there. I found three people that I didn't recognize, although one of the men did recognize me. I gave out water and told them I'd be back later with food. When I came back, only Ricardo was there. He didn't speak much English, so conversation was limited. I then went over to the next alley down and found Rick and John Mellon. Rick asked, "Are you the guy that's doing the barbecue?" I told him yes and that it would be this coming Sunday on the next alley over. He indicated that the others would all be there. John Mellon wanted to know when July 4th was. He thought that was the date, but I told him it was next Sunday the 1st. I drove around to a couple of other regular spots and helped a couple of people that wanted to remain anonymous, and then stopped by 14th Place to see Ernest. At the spot where I expected to find Ernest, I found Kenny from San Francisco. I didn't recognize him, but he recognized me. He got up from the sidewalk and came over to the car and asked if I had any water or food. He said we met about a year ago at the Jack in the Box and I had given him (his words) a can of beef soup and bread and prayed with him. Wow. An encounter I didn't remember and he remembered it vividly. I ended up giving him some clothes and as we talked he said he was thinking of going back to San Francisco. He said it seems as though every time he's about to get his act together he makes a bad decision and everything unravels for him. Without being specific about what those "decisions" were he said,"You probably know what I'm talking about." I told him that I used to teach safe driving lessons to truck drivers. Part of the training was to teach them to not just look at the vehicle directly in front of them, but to look 15 to 20 seconds down the road for any potential problems. Life is a lot like that. We need to look beyond the immediate situation that presents itself and see what might happen later in 15 or 20 hours from now if I do this or do that now. I think he got the point without me having to tell him, "Don't do stupid stuff." The amazing thing was that I had never thought about using an example from my safe driving classes in this context. It just came out on the spur of the moment!

I ended the day stopping under the freeway at Hooper St to see Richard and Dave and let them know about Sunday's barbecue. Dave was at the last one. Both men seem to know a lot of others in the area. Hopefully, they will get the word out and there will be a turn-out. Please pray for this Sunday. --until next time. John