"...All of Jesus' disciples left him and ran away." --Matthew 26:56--on the night Jesus was arrested.
I guess the most troubling thing to me about being homeless is the incredible feeling of being alone and not knowing what will happen next, where the next meal will come from, where you will sleep and the main question,...when will this be over? Sadly, for so many, it really never does end. There may be no family safety net left, and if there is you've either lost contact with them, and/or burned the bridge that could provide the help. I've met people who are fresh on the street and those who have spent two or three decades on the street. The fear of the future is evident in either group, whether veteran or newbie. Thirty years ago when I drove these streets during the day and would see 'street people', I had little compassion for them. My attitude was 'get a job'. I had no idea how difficult that is when you have no address or phone number. How would you fill out an application? There is a day laborer place on a street off Washington Blvd. I think it's south of Washington Blvd somewhere around Flower St, but in talking with people who start their day there, there hasn't been work available for quite some time. To be sure, many of the homeless are not good at structured living (getting up daily at a certain time and going to work). Perhaps they had no role model when they were growing up or no one pushing them to succeed like I had. I don't know if its the sole responsibility of the individual or the government's job to provide long term solutions. All I know is people are hurting and need help today. Today I have time and resources to help them. Today God calls on people to be his hands, feet and loving heart. Today I can do this. I don't know about the future, but for these folks today is all they see anyway. I'm not sure where I was reminded of the story in the New Testament about the disciples by themselves in the boat when a fierce storm appeared and threatened to sink the boat. Jesus appeared walking on the water. It's one of the famous stories of Jesus. Not only were the disciples fearful of the storm, but they thought they were seeing a ghost when Jesus was walking by. Yet, he said to them, "Don't be afraid. It's me, Jesus." When Jesus got in the boat, the wind died down. It occurred to me that when the storms of this life are raging, there is always an extra seat in that boat--and I'm claiming my spot now! I want to be near Jesus always, because storm or not, that's the safest place to be even in the midst of a storm.
Yesterday, the first people I met were a couple in an alley. Their names were LaShawna and Charles. LaShawna asked me, "Can I have another burger? I'm pregnant." Think about that. Homeless, pregnant and living in an alley. What do you think of that baby's future? Outside of these two and Leticia and Antonio everyone else I met were single men by themselves. Since I've been seeing Leticia and Antonio nearly every week for the past couple of months, Leticia always asks me, "Aren't you going to pray for us?" This is after the food and water and anything else that they may need is given to them. I'm always happy to pray for them.
I saw and helped a couple of other homeless men I knew in the streets nearby, but two men a few miles away that I wasn't familiar with caught my attention. The first was a man named Walter who was originally from Denver. He was going through some debris in the gutter of Venice Blvd near Los Angeles St. He was extremely thin and told me he had just gotten out of the hospital a few days before. He didn't say what the health problem was. He was hungry and quite happy to get a couple of burgers. I prayed with him and gave him some socks. He then returned to going through the debris in the gutter when he found two cans of food. I'm not sure what they were. I'm not sure if the cans were even cans of food, but he picked them up and put them in his cart. When I saw that I said, "Hey, I've got something better for you than that. I gave him some cans of 'meals ready to eat'. These are cans with a top that you just peel off. The cans in the gutter weren't even pop tops. Unless you have a can opener, you'll tear up the can before you get anything out of it. So the next guy was a guy digging in a dumpster for food. He told me his name was "Joker". I gave him some water and food and then dug around in the back of the car for some clothes too. When I began to pray for him I referred to him as "Joker" when I prayed. It was then that he corrected me and told me his real name was "Johnny". When I first called out to Johnny (while he was digging in the dumpster) I guess I must have spooked him, because he dropped the lid to the dumpster and it made a loud bang. I had prayed to find someone scared Sunday, perhaps this was the one, but I think most all of these men and women were scared to some extent. One other thing about Johnny. The dumpster he was digging in was in an alley off Maple St. While we talked for the ten minutes or so I heard Spanish music playing nearby. I thought it was from a club or some kind of eatery with a back door to the alley. As I drove away, I saw that it was a Spanish speaking Pentecostal Church!!! We were less than 15 feet from their OPEN back door.
I found a couple of other men in this area, one I had never met before, his name was Anthony and another man I've only met once before, his name was Willie. Willie was the one I offered my shoes to a couple of weeks ago. I noticed he still wasn't wearing any shoes.
Next I drove over to John Stokes. I'm not sure how many times I'll be able to see him before he leaves for Atlanta. I sat down on a milk crate when I got there and we talked for quite awhile. I told John some of the stories and things I've learned in the four years we've know each other. I began with a conversation he and I had when I first started coming downtown and I asked him, "What do homeless people need?" I didn't know anything back then, we both laughed about that. He was pretty riveted when I told him some of the stories and experiences I've had, in fact, he said I should write a book, that he would like to read it. What a good friend he's been to me. I'll miss him when he's gone.----Until next week. John
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