"Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear." -Isaiah 65:24
I made a beeline straight to the alley where I saw Rico and Miguel last week, however, I didn't see them or anyone else there. I was hoping to find out if they contacted the Dream Center or not. I ended up going there (to the Dream Center) at the end of Sunday's trip. I'm starting to learn something about how the Center functions as well as some of it's many outreaches. There is even a guy who daily goes out and serves people (gives food and stuff) to people living under freeways etc. Sounds familiar, huh? The name of that outreach is "Under the Bridge". I got the email address of the guy who runs it and am hoping to find out what he does with people who are recently homeless and need some help getting off the streets. I saw a video a couple of weeks ago of the founder of the Dream Center. His name is Matthew Barnett. In the video he tells the story of how things began and one of the turning points was a night where he went to a location in Echo Park around midnight. Echo Park, for those not familiar with this area, is the area right near Dodger Stadium. That night he saw the police arresting gang members for various violations and God spoke to him about establishing a place where these people could get help to change the direction in their life. In addition to that he felt God asking him if he was willing to give up his own dreams of pastoring a 'big church' like most pastors want and instead do something for these people that he saw being arrested that night. Ironically, he has ended up having the big church, but the path was by way of establishing this Center. The Center is the old Queen of Angels Hospital, a landmark location in Los Angeles, about two miles from downtown. On my way there I drove up Alvarado St. At around 7th I was stopped waiting for the signal to change when I noticed a commotion west of the intersection. I was stopped a few cars back from the intersection and couldn't see what was going on, but everyone standing on the corners of the sidewalks were looking west down the street. This street and the surrounding streets are filled with storefront retail stores and the place was packed with pedestrians. It was about 7 pm. There is a park on one of the corners. As I pulled through the intersection I saw what the commotion was. There must have been twenty men fighting in the middle of the street (most likely gangs). Police sirens could be heard on the way to break-up the disturbance. I can only imagine that this was something similar to what Matthew saw that night years ago. When you think about the direction of the lives of those men involved, it's heartbreaking to think of the lost potential. Then again, I see it on a one-on-one level each week when I serve the people where I go. At the Center, I was given a list where people can go to receive help from various outreaches in the downtown area. I'm hoping to start incorporating this into the help I give out each week.
One of the men I saw yesterday was Alex. I've seen him several times in the last couple of months. Yesterday, he was reading his bible on the sidewalk on Trinity St. He was happy to see me and we talked about what he was reading. His bible is in Spanish and we struggle a little with the language barrier. However, I asked him what book he was reading and he pointed in his bible to Isaiah chapter 40. So I got out my bible and he showed me where he was reading and he read it to me (in Spanish while I followed along in my English bible). Later, I told him about the Dream Center and gave him the address and phone number. Next week I'll give him some of the places on the list of outreach programs. I hope we can find a place for him before the cold weather starts. So after giving Alex the usual food and water and some shirts I left some cans of food for him to save for Monday. He was overwhelmed with joy over that. I really really like this guy. I pray things will work out well for him.
Up the street from Alex was Antonio and Julio. I haven't seen Leticia the last two times I've seen Antonio.
Both times he's simply said, "She's not back yet." Although both men were happy to see me, Julio seemed particularly happy. I think he's pretty lonely and just needs a friend (don't we all?).
After that I drove around the block to Wall St. I haven't seen Willie since the BBQ last month. I've driven by a few times, but no one on his side of the street was there. Yesterday, not only was Willie there, but Dave Parker who I haven't seen since the BBQ last October. He had been staying in a location where it was impossible to park the car nearby. When I opened up the back of the car so they could look through the clothes, that brought everyone from the other side of the street over. Louis and a few others from the BBQ last month came over and a lot of clothes were given out. I got to pray individually with just about everyone. It was a pretty cool time with these folks. In a month or so, I'll be switching back to working days and will have Sundays off. So I told them we'd do another BBQ in October.
One last encounter I wanted to mention. It was actually the first guy I saw Sunday. He was walking down San Pedro I think and he had the look of being homeless and hungry. His name was Alphonzo. After passing some food and water to him through the window he said, "Dios la bendigo" (God bless you in Spanish). Luckily, I'm familiar with this is Spanish or I wouldn't have known what he said. How blessed I was to have helped him. I felt like God had specifically pointed this man out for me to help.
Before I finish this entry, I wanted to comment on the verse I opened with. It's one of my favorite verses in the book of Isaiah and is centered on God being able and willing to provide for us in advance. I have been praying that I would eventually be able to do more than just provide temporary relief to the people I meet downtown. There will always be a need for the temporary relief I give. Some of the homeless will, no doubt, always live on the street, however, my heart goes out to those who I can see that just "don't belong" there and don't want to be there. Some have adopted life on the street as a lifestyle and aren't too concerned with finding a way out or have long ago given up on finding a way out. Others who haven't lived this way for very long and are still hoping to find their way back into society deserve whatever help and direction I can give them. It's to this end that I looked into what help the Dream Center can provide. We'll see where this leads. I'll keep you posted. --Until next time. John
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment