Downtown 9/7/2014

"With all my heart I praise the Lord, and with all that I am I praise his holy name!  With all my heart I praise the Lord!  I will never forget how kind he has been.  The Lord forgives our sins, heals us when we are sick and protects us from death.  His kindness and love are a crown on our heads.  Each day that we live, he provides for our needs and gives us the strength of a young eagle."  Psalm 103:1-5

Sometimes their doesn't seem to be anything special about a trip.  I was reminded recently that most days of ministry are that way and then once in a while you get a 'wow' day.  Sunday's trip didn't seem to have anything special about it.  There were people who were needful and I helped them, but nothing really stood out.

Carlos and another man were sitting on a sidewalk on a little street just east of Los Angeles St.  Curtis from Louisiana was in one of the alleys where I've had BBQ's  He was kind of the most interesting encounter of the day.  He had only two large teeth, one on each upper side of his mouth, but that didn't hamper him from asking me for two sandwiches.  (yes I gave him two and prayed with him also)

Then there was Jayson and Sonny and at the end of the trip John Stokes and Dave and around the corner from them Beverly and another man.  I drove down Hunter St by the LA Times building to see if Michael and his dog were there, but it looked like they haven't been there for days.  Maurice and Elaine's stuff had been removed also, but I haven't seen or heard from them in well over a month now.

So there was one thing about this trip that did stand out.  About a year ago at this time I was driving down 7th Ave each week on my way to McArthur Park.  Along the way I had noticed a gray roll-up door at the corner of 7th and Columbia next to a 7 Eleven store.  I noticed it because it had the words "I am Legion" spelled out in big block letters on the door.  Whoever painted those words on the door knew precisely that they carried with them demonic implications.  There is only one place in the New Testament where this phrase is used and that is exactly what it represents.  I started praying in front of this door every week when I would pass by it on the way to the park.  Somewhere around April I noticed the door was rolled-up.  It looked like someone might be getting ready to reopen the store that was behind this door, but I never did see any movement of things behind the glass windows, never saw any people in there at all.  Last week the door was down.  The words had been painted over and were now gone completely!  I'd like to think my prayers had something to do with their removal, but I'll probably never know.  I do know I was faithful to pray about it weekly.  I do know God is faithful. I also know God is against this type of thing.  You can make your own assumptions.  --Until next time.  John