Downtown 12/2/2018

"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."  2 Corrinthians 5:20


     It has been six months since my last blog.  I had a month and a half where I was unable to go due to my work schedule, but I have made trips most of the rest of the time.  I have personally gone through some difficult times, a lot having to do with my health.  None the less, I have had many encounters that were very important and memorable for me.  I'll try and recap some of the high points here.

     The last blog was on June 4th and we have now transitioned from the heat of summer to the nightly cold of fall and now almost winter time.  Two months ago in the alley near San Pedro and 25th St. there were maybe 5 or 6 people the day I went down there.  Sometimes you don't have a clear understanding of what went down until you process the event later.  This was definitely one of those times.  When I first pulled up the first man I saw was sitting on the ground with his back against one of the walls of the buildings there.  I think his name was David.  I asked if he was hungry and he indicated he was.  I held out the sandwich I had for him and he got up and came over to the car with obvious difficulty.  When he reached the car he took the sandwich and I held out my hand to squeeze his.  He took my hand and held it up to his cheek and thanked God for me and asked God to bless me and my family (repeatedly).  He kissed my hand.  I have been thanked by hundreds of people over the years in many different ways.  I have had my hand kissed before.  It is always very humbling.  I told him I love to come down there and help people and thanked him for his "blessing".  I slowly pulled forward to the rest of the folks living in that alley and gave out the rest of the food that day.  This was back in September.  It wasn't until later that I realized that David probably hadn't eaten anything in a day or two and probably wouldn't have eaten anything at all unless I had come down there.  If I had realized that at the time, I would have given him more food, but since he was the first contact in the alley I didn't think about that, instead it was, "Would I have enough for everyone there."  I have been back to that alley several times since then, but he hasn't been there.  In fact, last Sunday no one was there....   I remember reading a book many years ago by a man who wrote about his journey from being a successful businessman to a VP (at a drastically reduced salary) for World Vision.  He made a comment that has stuck with me and that is, "I'd hate for someone to suffer because I refused the call of God on my life to be a servant."

This photo is of Hiram and Lawrence.  It was taken in September, the day I saw David, and was the first time I'd seen Hiram in about 3 or 4 years.  I was so happy to see him.


     So I made a trip on Thanksgiving morning.  I had taken the week off from work and the day before had spent a considerable amount of time loading the car up with clothes and blankets.  I had a friend from work and a couple of his friends joining me for this trip.  We traveled in separate cars.  I had wanted to keep some of the blankets in their car out of sight so they wouldn't be snatched up at the first stop.  That usually is what happens when homeless people see blankets.  Even if they have some already they'll always want another one or two.  I had two places where I wanted to go.  The first was the alley I spoke about above and the second was 10th St off San Pedro (near Olympic Blvd downtown). I had made pasta and had thirteen sandwiches ready to go.  My friend from work brought some snacks that they could keep for later.  The problem?????  It rained the night before and it was all wet on Thanksgiving morning.  Why is this a big deal?  Well, people who are not sleeping under something go someplace where they are out of the rainfall.  So the alley off 25th St. is not where they would spend the night.  When I got there, there were only two people and one of them was leaving. That left one guy!  I was hoping there would be at least 5-6 people with a few people walking through while I was there.  Two guys did walk through, but they, apparently, weren't homeless and didn't want any of the food.  The next stop off 10th St only two women were there.  They started cheering when I pulled up!  Both these women I've seen and written about many times.  One was Debbie and the other was Chris's niece, Veloma.  Chris was in the hospital with kidney and liver failure.  Debbie wanted me to take her to the hospital where he was and marry them!  Now they refer to me as Pastor John, but I had to tell Debbie that I am not an ordained pastor and couldn't legally marry them and that day (Thanksgiving) was probably not the best day for this since I was down there to serve as many as I could with all the food and clothes I brought.  This seemed to placate her.  She also insisted that my being ordained or not didn't matter to her/them because this was "in the heart" and would be a great comfort to them.  I really think she felt Chris wouldn't last too much longer and she wanted this to happen before he died.  More about this later....

This is Debbie on the right and Keloma on the left on Thanksgiving Day.  The sun was finally out and temperatures were not too bad.

I had to do some driving to find people.  This guy was in an alley off Trinity St just south of Washington Blvd.


     Well as I mentioned I had twice the food that I normally take with me and the first two stops hardly anyone was there.  I was expecting by this point to have all the pasta given out and half the sandwiches.  Instead, only 3-4 bowls of pasta were given out and none of the sandwiches.  It was going to be a slow go from here on out.  Since I've been doing this for many years now I knew of many places to go to find one or two people to serve and normally that wouldn't bother me, but I had people specifically coming with me that day to be a part of this and it wasn't going smoothly.  Eventually, we gave all the food out and I got to pray with many folks.  One of the people I "happened" to find was Alan.  He is never in the same place twice and pushes two shopping carts around.  He is essentially a mute.  About all he ever says is grunts in the affirmative like, "Alan, do you want a sandwich?" And then a "Uh huh."  Years ago I sat down on the sidewalk with him for a while and he told me his name.  I'm probably one of the few people that knows his name.  I was so happy to see him on Thanksgiving.  I found him on the corner of Olympic and Alameda.  I gave him two sandwiches on that day.  I'm sure it made his day.

     Last Sunday I went back to 10th St and saw Debbie.  Chris was out of the hospital and there too, but his niece wasn't.  Red was there, but he left after he woke up.  It was almost 5 pm and was getting colder by the minute.  Here was Chris in his wheelchair with a jacket on and a shirt over his legs.  He asked if I had a pair of pants.  Luckily, I had a pair of jogging pants (one size fits all).  Debbie told me that while she went to visit him in the hospital, someone stole everything she had on the street.  So I came just in the nick of time with blankets, sweaters, towels and other warm clothing (not to mention the food).  Debbie must have commented a couple of times how cold it was the night before.  I stayed with them for 20 or 25 minutes talking with them.  Finally, Debbie asked me, "Pastor John, could you do what we talked about the last time?"  I said "Sure".  Although, I never used the term 'marriage', I joined these to together and asked God to bless the 'union' and provide for them.  I find it hard to believe that the hospital let Chris out in his condition.  I'm not sure I'm spelling it correctly, but here he is on the street with a 'coloscopy' bag and in a wheelchair.  I'm not sure how much time he has left, but he told me he was so thankful for me and all the times I've come by to help them.  All I can say is its a privilege to do God's work loving people.  We are called to be ambassadors for God wherever we go.  --Until next time  "Pastor John"

                             That's Debbie in the background getting things ready for the night.

                    Chris and Debbie back in September with a friend during less stressful times.

Downtown 6/3/2018

"What if I had faith that moved mountains? I would be nothing, unless I loved others.  What if I gave away all that I owned and let myself be burned alive?  I would gain nothing unless I loved others.  Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude.  Love isn't selfish or quick tempered.  It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do.  Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil.  Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful and trusting.  Love never fails."  From the Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 13:2b-8

Well, I've made four trips since my last blog, I guess it's time to fill you in on what's happened since the last one which was on Easter Sunday.  For 3 weeks or so I couldn't make any trips and then the week before Mothers Day I made one.  You may recall I had a very emotional visit on 10th St and San Pedro on Easter.  There was a group of folks living on that street that I had become very close with.  The next time back, they were all gone.  Nothing left on the sidewalk to show anyone living there.  I was heart-broken.  Two weeks later I returned and Red was there.  He told me that Ray had gone to an alcohol rehab place, Brigette and the rest of them all disappeared and he didn't know where they went to.  A week later Chris was there.  He didn't know much more than Red knew as far as what's happened to the people there.  Last week I didn't see Red, but I saw Chris again and Shorty who I hadn't seen in probably two years.  If you recall a blog from the end of last year (9/24/2017) Chris had a niece that was living there with him.  She had asked me to pray for her and specifically for her to get her daughter (Kennedy) back.  So last week she was there and was going through the clothes in the back of the car.  I walked up next to her and whispered, "How's Kennedy?"  Her face immediately lit up and she told me how cute her little 3 year old is now.  It was a precious moment seeing her so happy and so proud when talking about her daughter.

A few weeks back I started checking in on an alley I used to frequent a lot about 3 years ago.  It is an alley a half block north of 25th and San Pedro.  Back then there were upwards of a dozen people living there, then one of them died and within a short time the city made them all leave the alley.  Recently, the first couple times I stopped by only 2 or 3 were people there.  Last week there were about 5 and today there was probably 8-9 people there and most all of them I knew.  One of them was a young woman named Nicky who helped me big time the day (3 1/2 years ago) when I put on a lasagna dinner on the street corner at 25th.  She let out a big squeal when she saw it was me that pulled up in the alley.  The big problem was I only had 3 sandwiches left when I got there today.  They took it pretty well (those that didn't get one), but I had to promise to come back next week and go there first so I have enough for everyone!  When I left home to go on this trip I asked my wife to pray for two specific things.  The first was that since I have a lot of women's clothes and almost exclusively women's clothes on this trip, that I would find women to give them to.  The next thing was that I would keep a mental focus on bringing heaven down to earth for these people.  Now this stop in this alley was the last stop of this trip.  I had several other stops and one of them included some women who got to go through the trunk full of clothes.  But on this last stop there were 5 women who got to go through the clothes.  This is a testimony of the power of a praying wife!  Praise the Lord. 

There were two other significant stops.  The last four weeks I've been going down a street just west of Alameda right near the Jack in the Box (yes that Jack in the Box from when I started these trips).  I started befriending a few people on this street.  Last week's trip was a couple hours earlier than most of the trips I make and only one guy was there when I drove down there.  His name is Orlando.  Carlos rode up on a bike that day, but Orlando and I had quite an encounter last week.  He told me last week that his tent got tossed while he was away from it and someone took his shoes.  I asked him what size he wore and he told me he wore 12's.  Usually, when someone tells me they wear 12's I end up giving them mine because I rarely have that size with me in the car.  But last week I remembered that I had put a pair of men's shoes in the trunk and they were 12's.  So I told Orlando, "I just might have something for you."  When I pulled them out of the trunk and showed them to him he grinned really big and said these are the best shoes you can get, "These are walking shoes."  They weren't tennis shoes, but standing on your feet working shoes with big thick soles.  He was happy to get them, I was happy to give him something he really needed.  Today he had them on and I took his picture in them.

                                                            It's gotta be the shoes man!

Last week he had told me that he was out here to try and get some benefits through the VA.  He has just about given up now on receiving them.  He told me he was ready to go back to Green Bay, Wisconsin.  I said, "Green Bay?"  I told him that was my favorite football team.  He told me he had worked in the maintenance department at the stadium for a while.  He said the whole town runs off of that team being there.  Today I showed him this picture I posted on facebook about six weeks ago when there was a big winter storm going through there in mid-April.  He was stunned to see so much snow and so late in the year.  He knew right were this photo was taken.

                                                     
                                                         Lambeau Field--April 16, 2018

So I'll end this blog with an encounter that occurred early on on this trip.  I had gotten off the freeway at Soto St and drove south by an area that I used to work out of about 30+ years ago.  I drove around there for a short time and then moved west on Washington Blvd.  There was a man named Carlos that I used to see sometimes sitting in the parking lot behind some buildings at Washington Blvd and Long Beach Ave.  It was always on a Sunday when I'd see him and nobody was ever around.  He was from Nicaragua and worked on a sewing machine for American Apparel.  Well, that company recently went out of business and now he's out of work.  He is collecting unemployment benefits, but they won't last much longer.  He said he's hoping one of his job searches will work out by next month.  I don't think I've seen Carlos for a couple of years, yet I have driven by this place many times since then in hopes of seeing him.  He never accepted anything from me but maybe some water and maybe a blanket once, but never any food.  Today he accepted a sandwich (but only one) a bottle of water and a blanket.  I prayed with him and gave him a hug.  I was so happy to see him.  Here's his picture:

                          What you see there behind him is all he has.  Please pray for Carlos.

So I told you that I asked my wife to specifically pray for two things, to find women to give out the clothes to and to bring heaven down to earth for the people that I'd meet.  I gave out most of the clothes I took with me.  I'll let you decide if the second part was fulfilled. --Until next time.  John

PS.  With so many renewed friendships on this trip, I couldn't help but begin this blog with a quote from Paul's famous "Love Chapter".  I truly felt it on this trip.

 

   

Downtown Easter Sunday, 4/1/2018

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let the patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him, but let him ask in faith..."  "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."  James 1:2-6a and 5:16b

The story behind this week's trip began at the end of last week's trip when I promised a group of homeless folks that I'd stop to see them first this week and bring blankets.  I had brought blankets on that trip, but they are usually gone by the 1st or 2nd stop.  I try my best to keep my promises to these folks because I know they count on it greatly and I know many others have not followed through with promises in their past before....but it wasn't easy to keep this promise.

This last week I learned of a close friend landing in the hospital due to liver and kidney failure.  Then the next day my car broke down.  Luckily, for a while I have an extra car to drive, but the other one will have to be replaced quickly.  It's too old and costly to fix all the things wrong with it now (the car's not worth that much).  While visiting my friend in the hospital I was able to remind her that this Sunday was Easter and that all our sins were paid for on the cross by Jesus and that the peace that we seek is found in the presence of Jesus and his Holy Spirit.  I tried to keep the message as brief and clear as possible because my friend is unable to speak coherently at this point so I don't know to what extent the ability to understand is either.  So I simply said, "Keep seeking the peace that Jesus gives.  When you get troubled, seek Jesus and His peace."  This situation weighed heavily on me all week and was further complicated with the car trouble issues.  The car was repaired up to a point, but the service light and the ABS light are still on. So when Sunday came along and it was time to make the trip downtown I loaded up that car, but only made it a few miles down the road when the instrument panel lights started going haywire and the temperature gauge showed all the way over to the red zone.  Yet the car wasn't smoking and I checked the water levels and they were fine.  So I drove it back home and made if just fine and then transferred the stuff into the extra car and started out again.

Now keep in mind this is Easter Sunday and you usually have a family gathering somewhere to go to. The thought crossed my mind to just not go, but I had made a dozen sandwiches, had blankets, towels and  clothes, and I was determined to make it down there.  On the way down there I got really hungry and thought about eating one of the sandwiches, but held off from doing so.  I had this one place on 10th St and San Pedro to go to first, so I drove by there.  I saw a couple of guys sitting on the street corner and some others halfway down the street so I knew most everyone was going to be there.  I drove around the block so I could pull in on the side of the street where they were.   When I pulled up I was expecting to see the people from last week but another man was standing there.  He leaned over to look into the car and asked, "Are you the pastor?"  I told him I was and he said they were just talking about me and had been expecting me.  He stood up and called down to the guys on the corner and said, "Hey Chris, the pastor is here."  He leaned back down to talk to me.  I asked him how he was doing and he told me the trial for the guy that murdered his son was over and finally he had some closure on it.  I told him about my son's situation and we both immediately had a deep connection.  I got out of the car and by this point Chris (who is in a wheel-chair) was almost to the car.  He said, "Hey pastor we were just talking about you and were wondering where you were."  I said, "You know I promised to come here first and do you remember why?"  He said something about me bringing food, but I reminded him that I promised to bring blankets.  So now I'm handing out the blankets and the sandwiches.  The trunk of the car is open and people are going through the clothes in there.  Brigette (the pregnant woman from last week) and Ray (I referred to him as Don Juan last week) were there and Red came by too.  Another man with a Dallas Cowboy cap was there, he goes by the name of "Dallas".  Brigette is trying to get off the street.  We had a chance to talk briefly together and I warned her about being on the street with a child and she was well aware of the potential for losing the child to protective services.  She was hopeful to find a place very soon.  Please pray for her and her baby.  I talked with most all of them one on one briefly and then said, "Well, you all know what day today is right?"  And they knew it was Easter Sunday.  It was a heaven-gifted opportunity to give a word of encouragement and prayer and they were all eager to receive it.  I started out by talking briefly about my friend in the hospital and how Jesus had paid for our sins on Easter and overcame death.  I know that life is complicated and troubling for everyone and that the peace they seek can be found in the presence of Jesus. I encouraged them to keep seeking His presence.  They all know my story and my hardships and I know theirs.  We all seek the peace that surpasses all understanding.  I gathered them all around me and started praying for them.  Almost immediately I started feeling very emotional and had trouble finishing the prayer.  When I did I think they were all in tears too.  I received a hug from just about everyone there and Chris in the wheelchair was one of the people next to me. He kissed my hand and told me he was so glad I come down there.  It was a very emotional moment for all of us.  A few minutes later I gathered those that were left together and took their picture.

From left to right: Michael, the guy whose son was murdered (I forgot his name, Ray, Brigette, Dallas and Chris (he stood for the photo).  Ray and Brigette live in the tent behind them.

So just before I left, I think I had taken the picture by this point, but it was definitely after I had prayed with them that one man came walking down the street by himself.  He asked if I had a blanket, but I didn't have any left.  I asked him if he was hungry.  He said he was and I looked around for the bag of sandwiches.  Some one had put it back in my car.  I asked if they were all gone, but someone said there was one left.  When I picked up the bag it felt empty, but sure enough there was one left.  Remember the one I didn't eat on the way down there?????  This man ended up with it.  Praise the Lord.  It all worked out perfectly. --Until next time.  John

PS.  On the way home I was again overcome by the feeling that this had been a point of grace for all the people there.  We all felt it.  We will all remember it for a very long time.  It would have been easy after the car had acted up on me to just say forget it and it wasn't meant to be today.  Am I glad I persevered and continued on!  Look at what would have been missed.   

Downtown Sunday 3/25/2018

"Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him.  With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles."  And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.  2 Chronicles 32:7-8  

It had been a month or so since my last trip.  I've switched back to working days for the next four months and with daylight-savings time it is much easier on me physically to make these trips now. I was really looking forward to this one, knowing I would have plenty of daylight.  Before I left, my wife asked what she should be praying for and I said pray for divine encounters and that I would meet people that really needed to hear a word from God and be able to reconnect with my friends down there.

With the lack of extended daylight hours, the last few trips I've made I've had to make the difficult choice on not going into Compton because it would lengthen the trip too much.  I don't mind being down there after dark, but it's a lot harder to find people out and about at that time.  They are usually under covers for the night soon after the sun goes down.  But on this trip I wasn't going to have that problem so I started off in Compton at a spot near Imperial and Central that I'd been going to a while back.  When I got there all the homeless people were gone!  There were probably 8-10 people living there, most of them behind a fence behind a gas station with 2-3 more living on a side-street adjacent to the gas station.  But now there's no one there.  Then I saw what had happened.  The gas station had closed and had a chain-link fence set up around its perimeter.  No doubt, the new management company had the homeless people run-off. I drove around some of the streets nearby hoping to find a place where they possibly relocated to, but to no avail.  I had no choice but to head on towards downtown.

I didn't see any accessible people to help on the drive up Central Ave and finally ended up stopping at the burned-out church just off 27th and Central.  No changes yet, but I'll keep praying for Pastor Magee and his church until something does change.  I drove on over to San Pedro Ave and up to 25th. There on the street corner I put on a lasagna dinner for folks one afternoon a few years back.  There hasn't been anyone living on that sidewalk in a long time, but there were a lot of folks living in the first alley north of there.  They too had been run-off a long time ago, but as I slowly drove by I noticed some people have started living there again.  I drove around the block and entered from the other side and came on through.  The first guy living there was Andrew and then a woman who I kind of recognized started walking towards me.  She recognized me right away, then I saw Pete there who I've known for several years now.  He told me he had had a heart attack since I saw him last.  During his time in the hospital he reconnected with his son whom he hadn't seen in 34 years!  I think I understood him to say his son is the pastor of a church a few miles away.  Well, I gave out clothes, a couple of blankets, food and had group prayer with these three.  It was wonderful.  But I was just getting started.

I drove on up San Pedro and turned down 10th Place.  There were a couple of homeless men on this street.  Both of these men were pretty good size and were hungry.  I gave them extra sandwiches (a total of 5 between the two of them-Derek got three) and prayed with both of them.  They also both needed warm clothing and I had some long sleeve shirts and a couple of jackets.  They asked for blankets too, but I had given out the only ones I had at the last stop. I drove around to the other side of the block.  This is 10th St.  There on that street were four old friends, well three anyway.  There was a new woman there, her name was Brigette and she was very pregnant.  Well, the three of them started telling her about me and simply referred to me as Pastor and that I was family.  I was kind of bummed out because there were four of them and I only had three sandwiches left.  Somehow, no one complained.  They asked for blankets too, but I had given them all out at the first stop.  I ended up promising to stop there first next week and giving them blankets then.  I did give out several tarps which they greatly appreciated and let them go through the clothes in the back of the car.  So they all gathered around when I prayed for them and locked arms around shoulders (it was a very special moment).  So I'm not sure how it happened that I ended up standing with Brigette and her man.  Now this is the guy in the picture from the last blog who was with Bree.  You may recall she had been pregnant I assumed with him and had lost her baby and asked me to pray especially for her situation.  I don't know, but I assumed at the time she had a miscarriage. So now Don Juan (I don't know his name for sure) has a new woman and she's pregnant.  So he's pointing to her pregnant belly and with pride telling me he's very happy.  I step towards Brigette and place my hand on her belly and start praying a special blessing for this child.  When I finished I opened my eyes and he was crying.  He tells Brigette, "This is why he's Pastor John".  It was a good trip.  God is faithful.  I reconnected.  --Until next time.  John

PS.  So I started this blog with an old testament story about king Hezekiah and the imminent military threat from the Assyrian army led by Sennacharib.  It was like David facing Goliath.  The odds were overwhelming.  Well, just like those people in that day, we face issues with overwhelming odds against us.  You could be homeless or not homeless, but life presents us with situations that are overwhelming at times.  The cornerstone of faith begins with prayer and believing in our God, who is Lord over the impossible, to take charge over our impossible situation.  Begin today.  Pray for the impossible.  --John      



  

Downtown 1/28/18

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."  Isaiah 61:1, also quoted by Jesus as he began his public ministry (Luke 4:16-18a)

I sometimes forget how important the praying part of this ministry is.  Particularly, in regards to encouraging people who are brokenhearted.  With the pressing demands of hunger and especially the cold weather at this time of the year, I sometimes forget that people on the street can also be emotionally brokenhearted for a number of reasons.  More about this later....

On the way downtown I started thinking about an encounter I had several years back at about 5th St and maybe Los Angeles or Main St.  I don't remember the guy's name, but I had just helped a couple of people on 5th, but couldn't stay there very long and had pulled around the corner to park.  I think one of the people from 5th followed me there so I could finish giving him whatever it was I had to give him.  While parked there I remember several people had bedded down for the night (sun was down but it was still light out) in a small open area a few steps above the sidewalk right adjacent to where I had parked.  A man somewhere in his late 30's or early 40's lifted his head up and saw me.  I think I probably called out to him asking if he was hungry.  He came over to the car and I probably gave him some food and asked if he needed any socks of something.  He must have said yes because I had gotten out of the car and remember standing with him behind the trunk of the car I had at the time.  I remember giving him a blanket or two and some socks and warm clothing.  He told me he was with his mother and they were now homeless.  I remember praying with him and saying, "the man who walked on water will walk with you through this difficult time now".  When I said that he laid his head on my shoulder.  It was a very moving moment.  I've had many memorable reactions to prayer time with folks living on the street.  Last Sunday I had one similar to this.  It humbles me every time I am able to speak for God directly to someones heart and reawaken their yearning to know Him.  Well I decided to head straight down to this area and see if I could find this spot that people were using to sleep at night as it was now getting close the sundown too.  I got off the 101 freeway at 4th to make my way across town.  As I got off the freeway there was a man standing there looking for handouts from the people getting off the freeway.  I gave him the first sandwich.  I drove across town on 4th until I got to Main St.  I drove around the area for a while, but never did see the area I remembered.  After about 15 or 20 minutes of cruising the area without success I figured I better start going to the places I knew I would be seeing folks.  I headed over to 10th and San Pedro lamenting the time I spent without finding the "spot" I was looking for.  

When I got to 10th St I found a few people I knew there.  Chris was there and although I didn't see Debbie, she was there in their make-shift tent.  Another couple, her name is Bree (not sure what his name is) were there also, but in their car.  I found out later that if they wanted to drive somewhere they have to jump start the battery.  Anyway, 4 of the 5 blankets I had and the two pillows went quickly.  I handed out sandwiches and tarps and found out that Red was asleep on the sidewalk across the street.  I walked over and put a tarp in his cart because he asked for one after I had given out all that I had the last time down.  I hoped it was still in his cart when he woke up.  I had four bags of various articles in them and handed them out too.  Bree ended up going through the women's clothes in the back of the car and when she was through I asked to pray for her and her husband before I left.  Chris and Debbie were already back in their tent by now.  So before I could even begin praying, Bree asked if I would pray for her because she just lost her baby.  She didn't say how, I'm assuming now that she had a miscarriage, but I don't know for sure.  Somehow I was not thinking miscarriage at the time, but the death of an infant.  I still really don't know and she didn't tell me.  Anyway, I started praying and thanking God that we know this baby is in the arms of Jesus now and is safe and one day we will see her (yes I said her not knowing the gender of the baby either).  When I finished I could tell that they were both visible moved (I think he was fighting back tears in his eyes) and thankful for me praying. I know losing a baby is such a heartbreak and I remembered a story I read from some missionaries running an orphanage in Africa that I shared with them.  I looked around the house for the book I read this story in so I could quote it, but I couldn't find the book so I'll have to go on my best recollection of how it went.  These missionaries had started accumulating a fairly large group of children of varying ages.  Many children were living at the local trash dump and some children and particularly infants are brought to them because the parents have died.  A lot of children are homeless because of the aids epidemic in Africa.  At one point over a 10 or 12 day period 8 infants died.  The woman missionary, Heidi Baker, was devastated and cried out to God asking "Why has this happened?"  The answer she received was, "All I ask you to do is to love these children into my arms."  It was an answer that didn't answer the question of "why", but gave her a specific task and mindset.  It helped and got her focusing on loving the children as they came to her and not focusing on her personal pain.  It occurred to me after reading the story in their book, that this is what we are to do with everyone we meet.  Love them into the arms of Jesus for as long as we are with them, infants to adults.  It's not complicated. 

                         Bree and husband and their car. 

            Remember you can click on the image to enlarge    

Well, shortly after this I continued on the trip.  I found another group of people on another small street off the 10 frwy and Los Angeles St.  I drove over to the burned out church at 27th and Peloma and prayed in front of it and gave out the last of the food.  By now it was completely dark out and hard to find homeless people who were still walking around.  Most have found a place to bed down for the night. 

I began this blog with a verse from Isaiah.  It was quoted by Jesus in Nazareth in the local synagogue as he began his earthly ministry.  Part of Jesus' ministry was to heal the broken-hearted.  His Spirit still heals today.  In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he proclaims, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."  His Spirit still lives today.  Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.  --Until next time. John