Downtown 12/1/2013

"Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  The Father is a merciful God, who always gives us comfort.  He comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share that same comfort with others in trouble."  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Not last week's trip, but on the two previous trips I met a man named Derek who was living in the alley behind the auto parts store on Washington Blvd.  Last week I ran out of food before I got to him, so this week I went there first.  When I pulled up I saw Dave, who was previously staying with Willie on Wall St.  I hadn't seen Dave since the last BBQ in October (nor Willie either).  Yesterday, Derek was there and he was very happy to see me and I found out through Dave that Derek's dad is a man who goes by the name of Peacock whom I've met and helped before too.  I don't remember what he looks like without seeing him, but I do remember helping a man in the past with that name.  In talking with Derek and asking about his 'prospects' for getting off the street he said he was working to get a job in the oil refinery business.  I guess he's worked in that field before (Derek is older that I thought he was, he's 43).  I prayed with Derek specifically that he could find the right contacts and help to getting some work.  There was another man there named Larry who I've seen before too.  I prayed with them all and let them look through the clothes in the back of the car.  I helped some others, Antonio & Leticia and Lee & Thomas, a man named Robert who was near where Antonio and Leticia were, but the most memorable man of the day was Kevin on 14th Pl.

Kevin was pushing a cart with just a very few things in it. Now I may have helped Kevin before, he looked vaguely familiar.  When he told me his name was Kevin I told him my full name, because Kevin is my middle name, he then told me his full name, Kevin James Rogers, and he said it proudly I might add.  Kevin is 51 years old and comes from the South Central Los Angeles area.  We talked for quite a while about stuff we used to do as kids growing up in that area.  After I told him where I grew up, he said as kids they used to ride their bikes down El Segundo Blvd to the beaches.  That was something I used to do too in junior high when I was in the junior lifeguard program at Manhattan Beach during the summers.  I told him those two summers of junior high were 67' and 68'.  During the summer of 1967 I vividly remembered stopping on my bike on one of the small streets of Manhattan Beach and hearing the Doors song 'Light my fire', blaring on someone's radio (that's the year the song came out).  I knew at the time it was a moment to remember.  Kevin totally identified with it.  When we were looking through the back of the car he saw some shoes and asked if I had any 11 1/2's.  I said the only thing I had close to that size were the 12's that I was wearing.  So I gave them to him.  He had been wearing some 10 1/2' size tennis shoes that obviously didn't fit and must have been painful to walk in.  The side part of the heels were stretched way out of shape.  He couldn't believe I was offering him my shoes.  I think he was about to tear-up when he had them on and his feet felt so much better and then he looked down and saw me in my socks with a big smile on my face.  Luckily, his socks appeared to be in good shape, because I was all out of them.  I took his picture, but I'm still having problems moving the pictures from my phone to my computer.  One of these days I'll have to just post a bunch of pictures of all the cool people and stuff I've seen this year.  I prayed with Kevin and we must have hugged  two or three times.  It was a very special encounter.

So after this I went on down to McArthur Park via 7th and Columbia St and the "I am Legion" sign.  (Yes, I had to go get another pair of shoes on the way down there).  When I got to the park there was no place to park on the west side, so I parked on the north side close to the east end and then walked towards 7th and Alvarado.  The little Spanish speaking evangelistic group from last week was there again and as I listened to them I began praying for the hearts of the people milling around.  There were four people, three women and one man who were in this speaking group.  The man was preaching at the time.  They asked if I'd like to speak again and I told them if they wanted me to I would.  But first each one of them spoke except for the youngest girl.  During that time I kept praying behind them and eventually, a man named Salbador came walking up.  He was maybe 25 or 30 years old and from the Spanish speaking evangelistic group on the other side of the park.  He said he liked to come by and give support to this group since we're all "on the same team".  He asked me if I wanted to speak too.  I said "Sure, I'm just not sure how many people will understand my English here."  He told me, probably 40-50% of the people there can understand English and that eventually some people will come just to hear me speaking.  He told me, "I want you to be speaking here every Sunday!"  So it was three months ago that I started adding this stop as part of my downtown ministry.  I had no idea when I started what to expect, in fact, I was a little overwhelmed thinking I didn't really fit in here in this Spanish speaking area.  I did know, however, that language is no barrier to God, and if need be He would provide someone to interpret for me like he did at the church on Cloud Nine Alley three years ago.  Anyway, I did preach for a few minutes and after I finished Salbador brought another man over to the group who was ready to give his life to Jesus.  I know it couldn't have been from me speaking, because I don't think this guy could speak any English.  But.....I had been praying for people's hearts while the others were speaking......  So last week Joe, the policeman, told me there are three gangs whose turf borders this park.  Joe doesn't know about the fourth gang.....Gang Jesus!  His turf covers the whole earth. --Until next time. John