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."
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....
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"
