Downtown 2/23/2014

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord.' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."  Matthew 7:21

After having to work all through last weekend and switching to my 'nights' working schedule for the next four months, I made it downtown a little after 3 pm yesterday.  Having to work 8 out of the last 10 days and going on 4 hours of sleep in the last day made it a little difficult, but I was looking forward to it.  This weekend and next weekend will be the last two weekends before daylight savings time returns, so I wanted to get down as early as I could to maximize the daylight hours.  One of the new dynamics about going to McArthur Park is that it kind of ends up being in the 'middle' of the trip.  So I bought what I thought would be just enough food to give out before going to the park with the intention of buying more after the park. Interestingly, I bought the food by my house and as I was leaving the parking lot of that store I saw a homeless man named Compton (yes there are homeless folks here in my hometown) that I was able to assist before even getting on the freeway!  He had a very small bag of cans he was taking to the recycler behind the grocery store.  I'm sure the proceeds from the cans would not have been enough to buy the amount of food and water I gave him. He was very happy indeed.

So after I drove downtown I ended up on a small street called Essex.  It is just west of Central Ave.  I had helped one other man already, who lived under the freeway at Hooper St (where Downtown Richard Brown used to live) when I drove down this street.  The first guy I helped was a man named Angelo.  Just down the street from him I saw another man standing near the corner on the other side of the street.  I pulled to the curb and called out to him asking if he needed some food.  From behind me and on the same side of the street where I was another man answered "Yes."  Both men came over to the car.  The first man I had seen, his name was David, said they had been waiting for a food truck that was supposed to come by but hadn't showed up.  He said I was "Right on time."  They both referred to me as a 'blessing' as they were hungry.  Luckily, I had just enough food for the both of them and gave them a bottle of water too.  I told them (the other man's name was Mike) I was on my way to preach the gospel in McArthur Park, but offered to pray for them before I left.  I reached out my arms to both of them.  Now I think this was a first for me, I had one arm out each window holding each man's hand as I prayed for them.  It will always be a cherished moment for me.  When I concluded the prayer saying, "In Jesus' name", they both repeated it!  I drove away to both of them saying, "God bless you."  What a precious moment.  It was now 3:20 pm.  I had been worried about not having enough time to give out the normal amount of food I buy, so I bought less, and now I had given it all out in about 15 minutes.  I drove on over to McArthur Park thinking maybe after the park I can come back through here if there's enough daylight left.

It took a while to find a place to park at the park, but I finally made it in there.  I had stopped briefly on the way to pray in front of the "I am Legion" sign.  It was now about 4 pm when I started walking through the park.  I usually see two Spanish speaking evangelical groups on opposite ends of the park along 7th St, but today I saw neither.  As I walked around through the park though I saw the women that I normally preach with walking around.  I said hello to them and they told me that they didn't have the microphone and equipment that day so they were walking through and handing out tracts.  I asked about Rene and they told me he was in Guatamala this week (apparently that's where he's from). Rosalla is from Mexico and two of the other women are from El Salvador.  Another young woman (she was probably about eighteen) was with them, but she said she was born here.  We talked for a while, I told them I loved them and would see them next week.  This was right by the statue of Monsignor Oscar Romero.  Over by the corner of 7th and Alvarado, where we normally would be preaching, I saw a couple of men who are with a man who usually preaches after we do.  That man, Pastor Rafael, was not there Sunday, but these two men were handing out tracts.  As we stood there talking we saw another group of men talking nearby.  I asked Willie what was going on there (they were speaking in Spanish) and he told me that some other groups with strange doctrines sometimes go through the park arguing with people over doctrinal issues.  You know I try to keep things simple:  Love God, love people, God loves you and Jesus died for your sins.  Now follow His example and His teachings as you live your life (abide in Him).  Simplicity.  Pray always.  The first century church didn't have the bible, but they had the Holy Spirit with them.  This was the source of their power and the church grew.  We can learn a lot from the first century church.  Well I continued to prayer-walk all around the park.  On the west side of the park I have always seen a large group of people there with boxes and boxes of food.  The food looks like mostly produce, but there are probably a hundred people around there every weekend.  I found out the food is free (you just have to stand in line to get it) and it would appear it is a ministry outreach from some kind of church group.  I'll keep asking around to find out more about this group.  Hmm, handing out food.  I don't see anything strange about that doctrine!  That would be actually be doing the 'will of the Father'.   --Until next time.  John

PS.  I did end up going back through the downtown area and met up with John Mellon.  I hadn't seen him in over a year.  He was in the Jack in the Box and told me he was living near 17th and Naomi St.  While I was ordering some coffee and tacos John got into an altercation with another man who punched John in the face! Yes, inside the Jack in the Box!  You just never know what's going to happen next downtown. --John