As you've probably read before, I do a lot of praying before making these trips, asking God to lead me to people who really need help. For some reason Sunday I was very earnest in praying to meet desperate people. Someone so desperate that the glory of God would be evident and be on display. I really didn't know what that would look like, but that's what I prayed for....
Sunday was the first day of daylight-savings time, so I knew it would be light out until around 7 p.m. I arrived at about 5 p.m. and bought some food. I drove by a few places hoping to find Gary, Jorge and Jose, but none of them were around. Next, I drove over to the BBQ alleys. No one was in the first one and the second one looked empty, but I went ahead and drove all the way down it anyway. As I got to an area where there was a lot of trash and debris I recognized a woman sitting on a cushion that was laying on the ground. We recognized each other right-away, although I hadn't seen her in several months. Her name is Cindy and she is in her mid-forties. She knew I came around this area to help people and asked me if I had any pants in the car. In fact, it was more like begging for a pair than anything else. That's when I noticed she only had on a T-shirt! Luckily, the T-shirt was long enough to cover her up. I didn't ask what happened, I knew she was embarrased to be in this situation so I just pulled over and started going through the clothes in the back of the car. I found a couple of choices for her, one of which was a pair of jogging pants. With jogging pants one size pretty much fits all. I also gave her a sweat shirt with a hood and pockets and a blanket and a couple of pairs of socks. She didn't have any shoes or socks on, but she did have a pair of men's slip-ons. They looked more like slip-on slippers than anything, but they were also a couple of sizes too big. She told me that her toes were swollen because small rocks would get in them and rub against her toes. Well, I didn't have any womens shoes in the car that would fit her, but I told her I would go down to the Payless Shoe store and get her a pair (she wore size 9's). Before leaving we talked for a bit. Since she knew me and what I do there she asked me what church I go to (I get that a lot). I told her it isn't the church that sends me here and let it go at that. I did tell her that I heard someone on the radio a few days ago who told the story of Hosea (an Old Testament prophet) and that she might be interested in the story. She commented that she loved the stories in the Old Testament and was familiar with Hosea! I told her that often times God would have a prophet do something pretty strange so the people of Israel would take notice. This strange thing would represent either what God was about to do or indicate what their relationship with God was looking like and it would then convey some sort of message. In Hosea's case he was to find a prostitute and marry her! Cindy even recognized the name that the prostitute Hosea married was Gomer. Anyway, they had three kids and then she left Hosea and went back to being a prostitute and eventually ended up being a slave. Then Hosea was instructed to go and buy her back, which he did for 15 pieces of silver. The going rate for a slave was 30 pieces of silver (remember that's what Jesus' price was). So Gomer wasn't even worth the full price of a slave. So while I'm telling her this she's starting to "get it" that even though God knows everything that she's done in her life and everything that has landed her in the place where she is at this very moment, He still loves her and wants her back. Cindy was overjoyed at hearing this. I also found out she has been feeling very alone lately because the phone number she had for her Mother wasn't getting through anymore. Her Mother lived at the same number for years in Salt Lake City and now the number isn't working anymore and she has no idea what has happened to her. Well, by now she was eating one of the burgers I had given her and I told her to put on the clothes, finish eating and "Stay here! I'll be back with some shoes." The shoe store is about a mile or two down Washington Blvd and I found some grey tennis shoes that won't show dirt so much and brought them back to her. She had put on the clothes by now and the shoes seemed to fit so she started lacing them up. I glanced down the alley and another man was pushing his cart towards us. Boy, I was sure glad Cindy was fully dressed by now. The man turned out to be someone we both knew by the name of Chicago. Cindy told him I had just bought her a pair of shoes, so he wanted to know if I had any size 12's. I told him the only size 12's I had I was wearing, but if he wanted them I'd give them to him. He declined the offer. Well, I gave him some food and water and some socks and asked about our mutual friends. He told me where Willie and Dave were staying and where Tara Lee was. Cindy had told me where John Mellon was hanging out already. I was sad to hear that Chris was in the hospital with some sort of internal organ problem. Before leaving we all prayed together and I took their picture. It was a great and fulfilling moment. Cindy looked totally transformed from what she looked like when I first pulled up. She even asked me for a bible. I didn't have one to give her but I did give her a gospel of John. I asked Chicago if he wanted one and he said he already had a bible! Here are their pictures.
By now it was about 6 p.m. and I really needed to get going before all the daylight was gone. In the alley where I saw Shawn two weeks ago and Howard last week I found Kevin and Santa Barbara. I hadn't seen Santa Barbara since the last barbecue on Sept 30th. Shortly before then, he had told me that he had been in the hospital and they found a tumor on his kidney. Now he is getting treatment for it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He is very weak and tired (and he's homeless). He asked for a blanket along with the food, water and socks I gave them. We talked for a while and then I prayed with them. When I finished Santa Barbara began praying, thanking God that He still had people willing to take the time to come down and help others out. It was a very warm and memorable moment with a very ill man.
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