"The truth is always worth the risk." --a line from a action adventure movie I watched earlier in the day.
This week my work schedule switched back to nights (for the next four months), so after waking up around 1:30-2:00 pm I watched a movie made from an old TV show. Although the "truth" spoken about in the line above from the movie isn't quite the same "truth" in theological terms, the line did get my attention. These trips downtown have always been a spiritual adventure and just when things get a little too "normal" or average, it means it's time to shake things up and do things differently. I decided to drive down to MacArther Park first, just to see what was going on. It has been over a year since I saw any of my evangelistic friends down there and I didn't see any this evening either, although it was a lot later in the day when I got down there than when I used to go there. Still it was worth the extra time to go see the area again. I've gone down there maybe once a month for the last year just to check things out. I then drove back into downtown and ended up stopping in at the Jack in the Box. I just kind of hung out there reading for almost an hour before I bought some food to give out. I ended up leaving there at almost 8:30 pm. It was dark by this time and I drove over to a couple of places by Olive St, but found no one around.
I knew it was getting so dark that it was going to make things more difficult to find people still up. I drove over to Trinity St and found Leticia and Antonio getting ready to go to sleep. Five or ten minutes later and it would have been too late for them. I hadn't seen them in about a month so they were happy to see me and as always Leticia wanted me to pray for them. I found out her sons are 30 something and 25 years old. I'll find out where they live next time. I stopped at three different places on down the street from them. Alfred, Anthony and Lee were by themselves, although Lee (an elderly woman) asked for some extra food for "her friend".
When I left Trinity St I drove west on Washington Blvd, but then I decided I'd go back the other way (east) to check on Carlos down by Long Beach Ave. I didn't see him last week and probably wouldn't see him this late at night, but it was worth trying. However, as I got to the next signal on Washington I saw Dorothy standing on the other side of Washington. Dorothy is quite distinctive in that she's maybe five feet tall and I'm sure weighs less than a hundred pounds. She carries a large plastic bag with all her worldly possessions in it everywhere she goes. She doesn't talk much and walks like she's trying to get to the bank before it closes. I know we don't hardly even go to the bank anymore, but the older people reading this will know what I'm talking about! Anyway, I called out to her as I turned left onto the cross street and pulled into a small parking area by the sidewalk just passed the corner. Dorothy made her way over to me and I gave her some food and water. What happened next is what I'll always remember. She thanked me and kept walking quickly on down the street. I remained stopped to write down all the names of the folks I had helped so I wouldn't forget them. When I looked up Dorothy had sat down just about 15 or 20 yards down the street and was quickly eating the burgers. It was a picture of a hungry homeless person I won't ever forget. In fact, everyone that I had just helped was hungry and eating the food I gave them as I drove away, but Dorothy was the poster child of people in need. Once again, if I hadn't have made the trip, all of these folks would have gone to sleep hungry. That's something I haven't had to deal with personally in a very very long time. As I was getting on the freeway I noticed it was 8:55 pm. I had seen all these people in about twenty minutes! Trinity St...I call it Kingdom Turf. --Until next time. John
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
Saturday evening downtown 5-23-15
One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" --John 6:9
Yeah, I took a Saturday off to visit a family member and came back home via downtown. I arrived there at around 6:30-7 pm and drove to the Jack in the Box to kind of 'freshen up' after the long drive. I hadn't 'reloaded' the car with clothes from the week before and didn't have any water with me, so this trip (stop would be more accurate) would be somewhat brief. I ordered a combo meal and read for a while before getting started. I went into the bathroom to wash up and met Kenny one of my homeless friends. He told me he had a bad day recycling. It seemed that every place he went to where he usually scores a good amount of recyclables had already been picked through. So now its the end of the day and he had little to show for it. I told him so see me when he came out of the bathroom and I'd hook him up. I had finished my combo meal and told Kenny he could have my soda cup and refill it with whatever he wanted. I gave him a couple of burgers and he asked if he could look through the clothes in my car. I told him there weren't a lot of men's clothes this time, but he was welcome to look through anyway. While he was looking through the car, John Stokes came up. Now I hadn't see John in a while. There are a lot, maybe up to a dozen, people living where he lives and it depletes your food and water resources too quickly to stop there now. In fact, in talking with him about this he told me someone else came by the other day where he lives and that's exactly what happened to them too. My guess is it won't be long before the police run everyone off there. I gave John some burgers and about two or three minutes later he came back with a woman about thirty years old who was obviously upset. John said her boyfriend had just left her and she needed a phone to use so I let her use mine. While this was happening another man walked up asking to look through the clothes. Apparently, he had gone through the clothes in my car a while back and got a new shirt of some sort that still had a tag on it. The tag said $80.00 and he told me he still had it. Once again I had to warn him that most of the clothes were women's but he didn't seem to mind. He ended up with an arm load of clothes (and two burgers too). I gave him a hug and he was on his way. Kenny was still there and was now eating his burgers. The woman was still on the phone trying to get in touch with her uncle. I waited a while longer and Kenny and I continued to talk. I asked him about some of our mutual friends. Will (or Willie) who lived across the street from where we had the BBQ back in August was now out of jail. I'm not sure where he's staying now because the police had run everyone out of Channing St. The other Willie I know Kenny said he saw him a couple of weeks ago. I guess he's doing OK.
By now I started giving the woman using my phone signals that I needed to get going. She finished up her calls after a couple of more minutes and thanked me for the use of the phone. She said, "You don't know what a life-saver you've been". I gave her a hug and told her everything would work out. I gave Kenny a hug too before leaving. I had enough burgers left for two others and drove over to Washington and Long Beach Ave to look for Carlos from Nicaragua. Didn't see him, so I drove down one of the alleys off Hooper St. There was a man there from last week with two other men. Last week he had on a cap that said "Hebrew" across the front of it. I told him a joke about "Hebrew" (ask me how it goes the next time you see me--it's funny). This Saturday he didn't have the cap on and I didn't recognize him as being the same guy from last week although he did look familiar. Anyway, he recognized me and commented about the joke from the week before. Well, with three men there and only four burgers I handed him the bag and said, "I'll leave it up to you as to how to give these out." And with that, I left for home. I was pretty tired by this point, I had been up at 4:30 am and driven over 400 miles. But as brief as the trip through downtown was, I still brought the Kingdom to over a half a dozen people. --Until next time. John
Yeah, I took a Saturday off to visit a family member and came back home via downtown. I arrived there at around 6:30-7 pm and drove to the Jack in the Box to kind of 'freshen up' after the long drive. I hadn't 'reloaded' the car with clothes from the week before and didn't have any water with me, so this trip (stop would be more accurate) would be somewhat brief. I ordered a combo meal and read for a while before getting started. I went into the bathroom to wash up and met Kenny one of my homeless friends. He told me he had a bad day recycling. It seemed that every place he went to where he usually scores a good amount of recyclables had already been picked through. So now its the end of the day and he had little to show for it. I told him so see me when he came out of the bathroom and I'd hook him up. I had finished my combo meal and told Kenny he could have my soda cup and refill it with whatever he wanted. I gave him a couple of burgers and he asked if he could look through the clothes in my car. I told him there weren't a lot of men's clothes this time, but he was welcome to look through anyway. While he was looking through the car, John Stokes came up. Now I hadn't see John in a while. There are a lot, maybe up to a dozen, people living where he lives and it depletes your food and water resources too quickly to stop there now. In fact, in talking with him about this he told me someone else came by the other day where he lives and that's exactly what happened to them too. My guess is it won't be long before the police run everyone off there. I gave John some burgers and about two or three minutes later he came back with a woman about thirty years old who was obviously upset. John said her boyfriend had just left her and she needed a phone to use so I let her use mine. While this was happening another man walked up asking to look through the clothes. Apparently, he had gone through the clothes in my car a while back and got a new shirt of some sort that still had a tag on it. The tag said $80.00 and he told me he still had it. Once again I had to warn him that most of the clothes were women's but he didn't seem to mind. He ended up with an arm load of clothes (and two burgers too). I gave him a hug and he was on his way. Kenny was still there and was now eating his burgers. The woman was still on the phone trying to get in touch with her uncle. I waited a while longer and Kenny and I continued to talk. I asked him about some of our mutual friends. Will (or Willie) who lived across the street from where we had the BBQ back in August was now out of jail. I'm not sure where he's staying now because the police had run everyone out of Channing St. The other Willie I know Kenny said he saw him a couple of weeks ago. I guess he's doing OK.
By now I started giving the woman using my phone signals that I needed to get going. She finished up her calls after a couple of more minutes and thanked me for the use of the phone. She said, "You don't know what a life-saver you've been". I gave her a hug and told her everything would work out. I gave Kenny a hug too before leaving. I had enough burgers left for two others and drove over to Washington and Long Beach Ave to look for Carlos from Nicaragua. Didn't see him, so I drove down one of the alleys off Hooper St. There was a man there from last week with two other men. Last week he had on a cap that said "Hebrew" across the front of it. I told him a joke about "Hebrew" (ask me how it goes the next time you see me--it's funny). This Saturday he didn't have the cap on and I didn't recognize him as being the same guy from last week although he did look familiar. Anyway, he recognized me and commented about the joke from the week before. Well, with three men there and only four burgers I handed him the bag and said, "I'll leave it up to you as to how to give these out." And with that, I left for home. I was pretty tired by this point, I had been up at 4:30 am and driven over 400 miles. But as brief as the trip through downtown was, I still brought the Kingdom to over a half a dozen people. --Until next time. John
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Downtown 5-17-15
"Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for he was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they (scribes and Pharisees) all complained, saying, 'He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.' Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.' " ------Luke 19:1-10
It happened in an alley near 9th and Central. It was one of those stops where you weren't expecting anything special and then the Kingdom just broke through and twenty minutes later you drove away amazed at what just happened. In fact, I drove through this alley to get to 9th, not even thinking I was going to run into anyone. At this point I hadn't even given out any food (except some crackers I gave to a pit bull guard dog I named Rocky). So as I was driving down this alley looking towards 9th St and a place where I had a very memorable encounter a couple of years ago, I saw a man and a woman sitting on the ground in the shade of a building. There were a three or four other men nearby on both sides of the alley. One side was a parking lot and I'm not sure but there may be homeless people living in cars there. Anyway, after I backed the car up to get even with the man and woman the man called out to me and said, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a long time." I'm sure I've seen this guy before, but it's been so long I really didn't recognize him. He said he goes by the name of Red and the woman's name was Debbie. I had passed some food to Red through the car window when he came up, but I got out when they expressed an interest in going through the clothes in the back of the car. At this point all the other men who were standing around came over too.
So a very diminutive man came over named Shorty (for obvious reasons) and Gustavo and Amari. Gustavo needed a blanket and he was really happy to get one. The other men looked through the clothes and I know they took some, but I was concerned because I mostly had women's clothes. Oh well, no one seemed to complain. While the others went through the clothes Red and Debbie an I got to know each other. They were surprised that I live so far away and come down there. Debbie thought I was a pastor, but I told her that I was just a regular guy. Red thought I was part of a larger group, but I told him it was just me out here alone. So Gustavo, Shorty, Debbie and Red and I gathered together and put our arms around each other and I prayed for them. That's when it happened. First Debbie prayed and then Shorty (in voice you could barely hear) and then Red prayed. I have had others pray after me, but I don't think I've ever had that many join in and pray too. Debbie prayed like she had done that before. Afterwards, she even asked me if the blood of Jesus was the only atonement for our sins. When I said yes, she seemed relieved. After that it was a natural progression to be able to speak about Jesus. I talked a little about the passage quoted above. There are a lot of subtle points about this story of Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus, but one of the more poignant ones is that unlike a lot of churches, Jesus didn't insist on belief before fellowship. Most churches would have you believe what they believe before you can belong, but Jesus on numerous occasions invited people in without their changing anything, knowing that through a relationship with him and the truth of his teaching would ultimately change them. The most obvious example being the twelve disciples who started out not having a clue as to who Jesus was. In fact, only after his resurrection did they really understand who Jesus was. So here I am in a small group of homeless folks where the Kingdom has broken through and they are seeing what a Christian really is in action and they want to keep the moment going by talking to me. They were actually vying for my attention and kept trying to interrupt each other to tell me something. It was very humbling. Debbie asked me if I'd pray for her again, but before I did she wanted to sing me a song about the Jordan River! The last thing she said to me as I drove away was, "Thank you so much for coming by." What a day! I'm looking forward to next time. --John
It happened in an alley near 9th and Central. It was one of those stops where you weren't expecting anything special and then the Kingdom just broke through and twenty minutes later you drove away amazed at what just happened. In fact, I drove through this alley to get to 9th, not even thinking I was going to run into anyone. At this point I hadn't even given out any food (except some crackers I gave to a pit bull guard dog I named Rocky). So as I was driving down this alley looking towards 9th St and a place where I had a very memorable encounter a couple of years ago, I saw a man and a woman sitting on the ground in the shade of a building. There were a three or four other men nearby on both sides of the alley. One side was a parking lot and I'm not sure but there may be homeless people living in cars there. Anyway, after I backed the car up to get even with the man and woman the man called out to me and said, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a long time." I'm sure I've seen this guy before, but it's been so long I really didn't recognize him. He said he goes by the name of Red and the woman's name was Debbie. I had passed some food to Red through the car window when he came up, but I got out when they expressed an interest in going through the clothes in the back of the car. At this point all the other men who were standing around came over too.
So a very diminutive man came over named Shorty (for obvious reasons) and Gustavo and Amari. Gustavo needed a blanket and he was really happy to get one. The other men looked through the clothes and I know they took some, but I was concerned because I mostly had women's clothes. Oh well, no one seemed to complain. While the others went through the clothes Red and Debbie an I got to know each other. They were surprised that I live so far away and come down there. Debbie thought I was a pastor, but I told her that I was just a regular guy. Red thought I was part of a larger group, but I told him it was just me out here alone. So Gustavo, Shorty, Debbie and Red and I gathered together and put our arms around each other and I prayed for them. That's when it happened. First Debbie prayed and then Shorty (in voice you could barely hear) and then Red prayed. I have had others pray after me, but I don't think I've ever had that many join in and pray too. Debbie prayed like she had done that before. Afterwards, she even asked me if the blood of Jesus was the only atonement for our sins. When I said yes, she seemed relieved. After that it was a natural progression to be able to speak about Jesus. I talked a little about the passage quoted above. There are a lot of subtle points about this story of Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus, but one of the more poignant ones is that unlike a lot of churches, Jesus didn't insist on belief before fellowship. Most churches would have you believe what they believe before you can belong, but Jesus on numerous occasions invited people in without their changing anything, knowing that through a relationship with him and the truth of his teaching would ultimately change them. The most obvious example being the twelve disciples who started out not having a clue as to who Jesus was. In fact, only after his resurrection did they really understand who Jesus was. So here I am in a small group of homeless folks where the Kingdom has broken through and they are seeing what a Christian really is in action and they want to keep the moment going by talking to me. They were actually vying for my attention and kept trying to interrupt each other to tell me something. It was very humbling. Debbie asked me if I'd pray for her again, but before I did she wanted to sing me a song about the Jordan River! The last thing she said to me as I drove away was, "Thank you so much for coming by." What a day! I'm looking forward to next time. --John
Monday, May 4, 2015
Downtown 5/3/15
"...we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of the prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22
I had to move this week's trip up a couple of hours and it had an impact early on in that I had a little trouble finding folks. After the last two trips I wanted to avoid big groups of people and just concentrate on loners. The plan worked out OK, although early on it was a little difficult. I finally met a couple of men on 18th St who were each by themselves. The first man, Sergio, was a lot more receptive than the second man, Frank. In fact, I kind of doubt that was the name of the second guy. He, Frank, seemed to be either wary of me or just didn't want to be bothered, although he didn't mind taking the food. Sometimes you don't always get the happy positive reaction you might have expected...
Here is what I saw when I drove up to Frank (Sergio was back down the street the other way). You'd have thought Frank would have been a little more receptive.
I met a couple of other men in different alleys for the first time. One man's name was Guillermo and he spoke only Spanish...and a lot of it. I have no idea what he was trying to tell me, but it went on and on and he kept pointing to the sky. He didn't seem to be in a panic, so I guess he was OK. The other guy Nassau was in one of the BBQ alleys and wasn't too talkative at all. This alley was close to one of the other BBQ alleys and in that one someone started a fire that the fire department had to respond to with all the accompanying emergency vehicles. A lot of trash builds up in these alleys so there is a lot of debris that can catch on fire. The last time I was in that alley I was told that one of the people I helped had a tendency to start fires. This was a pretty big one, because you could see black smoke from several blocks away.
I was starting to become a little disappointed since I hadn't had a good encounter with anyone yet. I helped another man in another alley and even had a guy in one alley not get out of his 'shelter' but told me to leave the food on the blanket outside. I declined his request and drove on. I started praying again.
I drove over to the Jack in the Box, not to take a break, but sometimes there are homeless folks walking around there (and sometimes not). This time, as I drove in the parking lot, I immediately saw two shopping carts and a homeless man standing a couple of feet away from one of them. His name turned out to be Thomas Davis. He was 62 years old from New Orleans. As I drove passed him with my window down he said he was "hoping to get something to eat". I guess no one had offered him any help. Well, I parked and got out of the car so he could go through the clothes in the back too. He told me he had come out here forty years ago seeking fortune and fame in the music industry, but nothing materialized and he never went back home. His mother lived in Galveston, Texas. I reminded him of the old Glen Campbell song by that name and he remembered it well and said it always reminded him of his Mom, whom he never saw again after he left home. Here's his picture.
Thomas was really happy I stopped. He got some food and water, a change of clothes, even some shoes and socks and probably what really helped his morale was some conversation with someone. Yes I prayed with him too. It was the best stop of the day.
Well, I said earlier that I didn't want to stop where there were a lot of people, yet I headed over to where I know there is a large congregation of homeless folks, but was just driving by when I saw two people on a street adjacent to where that location is. I drove around and stopped where the two people were. They turned out to be Beverly and Miguel. Now Beverly was at the BBQ last summer. Miguel was a friend of hers who at one time worked at either the gas station or a recycling center around the corner. I'm not sure why he was there Sunday. I had three burgers left that I gave to them. Miguel might be a new homeless person because Beverly was warning him about the white T-shirts I had (they show dirt quickly). Here's their picture..
While I was praying with them, another man walked up and wanted to look through the clothes (luckily that was all he wanted because I was out of food). Anyway, I opened up the back of the car again and he picked out a few things, then said he had something for me. He said they were brand new and urged me to look inside the bag that he had left in my car. I looked and had to smile. He said he couldn't pass up a new pair of boots, but obviously couldn't wear them. I think he thought he might be able to trade them for something. I always try to be gracious when someone homeless wants to give me something. Now what do you think I'm going to do with these?????
I don't think these "boots were made for walkin'"
Until next time. --John
I had to move this week's trip up a couple of hours and it had an impact early on in that I had a little trouble finding folks. After the last two trips I wanted to avoid big groups of people and just concentrate on loners. The plan worked out OK, although early on it was a little difficult. I finally met a couple of men on 18th St who were each by themselves. The first man, Sergio, was a lot more receptive than the second man, Frank. In fact, I kind of doubt that was the name of the second guy. He, Frank, seemed to be either wary of me or just didn't want to be bothered, although he didn't mind taking the food. Sometimes you don't always get the happy positive reaction you might have expected...
I met a couple of other men in different alleys for the first time. One man's name was Guillermo and he spoke only Spanish...and a lot of it. I have no idea what he was trying to tell me, but it went on and on and he kept pointing to the sky. He didn't seem to be in a panic, so I guess he was OK. The other guy Nassau was in one of the BBQ alleys and wasn't too talkative at all. This alley was close to one of the other BBQ alleys and in that one someone started a fire that the fire department had to respond to with all the accompanying emergency vehicles. A lot of trash builds up in these alleys so there is a lot of debris that can catch on fire. The last time I was in that alley I was told that one of the people I helped had a tendency to start fires. This was a pretty big one, because you could see black smoke from several blocks away.
I was starting to become a little disappointed since I hadn't had a good encounter with anyone yet. I helped another man in another alley and even had a guy in one alley not get out of his 'shelter' but told me to leave the food on the blanket outside. I declined his request and drove on. I started praying again.
I drove over to the Jack in the Box, not to take a break, but sometimes there are homeless folks walking around there (and sometimes not). This time, as I drove in the parking lot, I immediately saw two shopping carts and a homeless man standing a couple of feet away from one of them. His name turned out to be Thomas Davis. He was 62 years old from New Orleans. As I drove passed him with my window down he said he was "hoping to get something to eat". I guess no one had offered him any help. Well, I parked and got out of the car so he could go through the clothes in the back too. He told me he had come out here forty years ago seeking fortune and fame in the music industry, but nothing materialized and he never went back home. His mother lived in Galveston, Texas. I reminded him of the old Glen Campbell song by that name and he remembered it well and said it always reminded him of his Mom, whom he never saw again after he left home. Here's his picture.
Well, I said earlier that I didn't want to stop where there were a lot of people, yet I headed over to where I know there is a large congregation of homeless folks, but was just driving by when I saw two people on a street adjacent to where that location is. I drove around and stopped where the two people were. They turned out to be Beverly and Miguel. Now Beverly was at the BBQ last summer. Miguel was a friend of hers who at one time worked at either the gas station or a recycling center around the corner. I'm not sure why he was there Sunday. I had three burgers left that I gave to them. Miguel might be a new homeless person because Beverly was warning him about the white T-shirts I had (they show dirt quickly). Here's their picture..
While I was praying with them, another man walked up and wanted to look through the clothes (luckily that was all he wanted because I was out of food). Anyway, I opened up the back of the car again and he picked out a few things, then said he had something for me. He said they were brand new and urged me to look inside the bag that he had left in my car. I looked and had to smile. He said he couldn't pass up a new pair of boots, but obviously couldn't wear them. I think he thought he might be able to trade them for something. I always try to be gracious when someone homeless wants to give me something. Now what do you think I'm going to do with these?????
I don't think these "boots were made for walkin'"
Until next time. --John
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