"Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barely loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down'. There was plenty of grass in that place and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten." John 6:8-13
I was unable to put on two BBQ's this year. I had done the one in August, but somehow, ran out of time before daylight savings time was over to do a second one. I wanted to do a second one down on the corner of 25th and San Pedro St in Los Angeles, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get away with firing up a BBQ that close to a busy street. So I thought about using the pans with the little cans of Sterno gel under them to heat up food. I got some advice and help on this from a close friend and it worked out perfectly. I thought about the menu options and decided to go with Lasagna with a few different choices of salads and with chips and salsa. The food went over very well, only one guy didn't like lasagna and he ended up coming back for more salad!
So if you've followed these blogs for a while you might be wondering, "What specifically were you praying about this time John?" The thing about this location is that there is a lot of foot traffic going from the residential neighborhood to the retail stores on San Pedro St. There are lots of alleys up and down San Pedro St where homeless folks live too. So I knew it would be busy in the afternoon with a lot of people walking by. Especially, with the kind of people I wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to pray with. I had told the core people that live on that corner that we'd be celebrating Thanksgiving early and since my birthday was the Friday before we'd celebrate 'every ones' birthday too. So the core people that are there nearly every time I come by there are Queen Victoria, Dave Parker, Hiram, Nicky and another woman who rarely speaks (and I've never caught her name either, she always looks kind of scared and worried too). Anyway, I got down there at 1:30 pm. and Nicky and Hiram helped me set up (I really would have struggled if they hadn't helped). I had cooked six pans of lasagna in the morning and wanted to get the tables and the chafing pans set up as quickly as possible. I had rented 3 tables and 8 chairs so people walking by could sit and eat and enjoy the time on the corner in comfort. It worked out well and Nicky probably served 80% of the people, she was a great help. Victoria had gone to the Burger King to use their restroom to get ready. When she came back she had on a pretty bright floral blouse and looked radiant. Dave, for some reason, left right away and didn't come back. Victoria was very upset about it and shed some tears over it, but I told her not to worry about it on my account. I was a little surprised though. Now I didn't count the number of people served, but it was around thirty (more than I've ever done at a BBQ). All the salads were gone, and 4 of the 6 pans of lasagna were gone. I'd rather have too much, than too little. Remember I had said that the dinner was an early Thanksgiving Day celebration of sorts too. The story above that I started with of Jesus feeding the five thousand was the earliest written words that I could come up with where someone "gives thanks" for what they are about to eat (in the other three gospels it says Jesus "blessed" the loaves, but here he "gives thanks").
OK, so what happened? I'd say at least three people said they hadn't eaten all day. I'm sure there were a lot more that didn't say it. One woman said she hadn't eaten in three days. Another woman who was all dressed up and had come from the "Kingdom Hall" said the only thing in her refrigerator at home was ice cubes! There were people who walked by who didn't speak hardly any English who stayed and ate with us. One woman, named Marabelle, lived near Maple St. I sat and talked with her while she ate. She had had knee surgery a while back and walking was still painful for her. Actually, I talked with just about everyone who came by. Two men, Freddy and Moses, came by. I'm not really sure if they were homeless or not. They may live in the neighborhood nearby I really don't remember if they said so or not. But I got to talk with them and pray with them. They (as were most of the people who asked) were surprised that I live as far away as I do and come down there to help people. There was one couple who stopped and ate with us, the man had on a Redskin's jersey with the name Randel El on the back. I'm sure I surprised him when I said that guy was in the Super Bowl with the Steelers several years back and as a receiver threw a touchdown pass. The Steeler's quarterback didn't throw one in the whole game, yet that guy did. How did I remember that???
So are you ready for the encounter of the day? It's difficult to tell and will probably shock a few people, but this is the reality for some people on the street, so here goes. About two hours into the trip and man came by, Latino, but spoke fluent English. His name was Gabriel. I guess he grew up in the area. I had been talking about my daughter learning to drive and he told me about his mother promising to buy him a car when he was 17 after he got his driver's license. She got him a GTO in 1981, so by now he's in his early 50's I'm guessing. I noticed a big patch of skin off the top of his right forearm when he first walked up, so I had made a plate of food for him and had him sit down in one of the chairs and handed it to him. We had talked for a while when I got around to asking him about the open spot on his arm. In addition to the missing skin, the back of his hand was now at a 90 degree angle to his forearm and his fingers were kind of swollen too. So he told me the story of one night when he was shooting up heroin. He was looking for a vein in that arm and was having trouble finding one so he set the needle down next to him so he could tie up his arm so the veins would pop up. Then he shot the needle in. A few hours later his arm swelled up and he ended up in the hospital. When he woke up, they had removed that patch of skin due to a flesh eating virus or something. As his arm healed, the hand moved into that position, probably due to lack of physical therapy. After telling me this, Gabriel said, "Hey, I'm just telling you the truth of what happened. I'm on methadone now." I told him it was OK, I wasn't offended by his story. Of course, I prayed for him. I also asked him where he stayed at night. he told me that he and two other guys sleep in an alley off Washington Blvd and San Pedro St, between 10 pm and 7:30 am and then they have to move on. He spends most of his days walking up and down San Pedro St. Remember when I said one of the reasons I wanted to do a dinner on this street corner was because I'd meet people there that I'd never have the opportunity to meet otherwise? Well, there you go! You're not going to meet people like this in a church, people like this will never make it there. You have to go to the streets to meet people like this (in desperate need). By the way, Gabriel seemed coherent, well-spoken and pleasant to talk to. He even asked for some literature so I gave him a couple of Guide Post magazines. As he was about to leave and he told me he spent most of his time walking up and down San Pedro St, I told him I come down here once a week and pointed to my car. "When you see this car, flag me down. I come down here to help people." Then he said, "When I see you, I see Jesus. You are Jesus to me." Talk about being humbled immediately. I sure hope I see Gabriel again because I realized later I missed an opportunity to tell him, "Jesus loves you. I know because this Jesus loves you!" I think somehow he knew that already, but I'll keep searching for him until I find him again.
Well, a little while later Hiram, Nicky and the other woman helped me pack the car up. Before I left we all gathered around and held hands and prayed. When we finished praying they all sang happy birthday to me. It was quite a trip!
So I had two pans of lasagna left. I decided to try and find some folks on the other side of Washington Blvd to help on my way out of town. I called out to several tents where people I know live, but no one came out or were there, so I came on home. Don't worry about the left-over lasagna, it won't go to waste (as of Monday afternoon, only one pan is left!) Until next time.--John
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