Sunday night downtown-12/14/2014

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger." Luke 2:8-16  
This is a favorite passage of mine and one of the reasons is because the first people who were told of Jesus' birth worked the night shift!!!



Another trip downtown made at night.  In fact, I don't think I even made it down there until about 7:30 pm.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow or at least by tomorrow night and I knew people could use some warm clothes.  So I loaded up a half dozen or so jackets and sweat shirts in the car and took off for San Pedro and 25th.  I hadn't seen these folks since the dinner last month (Nov 16th) and all the usual people were there except for Victoria and Hiram.  The jackets were gone in less than five minutes and two of the blankets I took also.  It was a good but brief stop because I had parked in front of a driveway and one of the residents came home needing to use the driveway.  There was a iron fence I was parked in front of that I didn't think anyone would be needing to get through, but someone showed up after I'd been there for five minutes, so I had to leave rather quickly.  It was good to be able to accomplish so much so quickly; food, water and warm clothing and hugs for everyone.

I then drove over to Venice Blvd by Los Angeles St and found some friends on a corner there. One of the guys is Felipe.  I was able to show him a picture of him on my phone that I took with him and Antonio and Leticia a couple of summers ago.  He was sure surprised to see it.  Although they looked like they had a lot of 'stuff'', Felipe told me that the city had come by one day while they were gone and taken everything away.  So the socks and the last blanket I had with me were greatly needed.

I had two burgers left and after checking out a couple of locations and finding nobody there I decided to drive over to the Jack in the Box and take a short break.  So while I was sitting at one of the tables and having some coffee (I was reading a book during this time) I noticed a man sitting by himself in one of the corners of the dining room.  He wasn't eating or drinking anything just sitting there minding his own business hoping to not be noticed by the staff there.  He kept looking at his hands which were kind of dirty.  When I was ready to go I walked over to him and told him if he was hungry I had a couple of burgers left in my car he could have.  He said "OK" and I motioned for him to follow me outside.  I gave him the burgers and asked what his name was.  He told me his name was Michael.  I told him I have a brother by that name.  We talked for a minute or two, I gave him a pair of socks and a bottle of water before leaving.  He then walked back over to the sidewalk by the Jack in the Box and started eating the burgers.  I just knew he was hungry.  I was glad I offered him the burgers and glad I had two left to give out.  --Until next time.  John