"God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven!
God blesses those people who grieve. They will find comfort!
God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them!
God blesses those people who are merciful. They will be treated with mercy!
God blesses those people whose hearts are pure. They will see Him!
God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children!
God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the kingdom of heaven." --Matthew 5:3-10 From the sermon on the mount discourse.
On my last blog I showed some pictures of two women I have been helping the last several times I've gone downtown. I saw both of them last week and again this week. Last week the weather in Southern California was very much below normal for here. Maria, who had been in her van when I pulled up, put her hands around my hand so I could feel how cold she was, and they were ice cold. We talked for a while and I gave her a couple of pairs of socks along with some food. Although we struggle with the language barrier, we enjoy talking together. When I started to drive away and she was getting back into her van I could hear her gently crying. It was tough to leave.
I drove over to San Pedro St and helped a couple of other folks and then found Carmen on the corner of 24th. She was in her tent already, but I noticed her wheelchair next to the tent so I called out her name. She got up and hobbled over to the car. Guess what the first thing she said was? "It is so cold!" I gave her a couple of sandwiches and she asked for a third sandwich for someone else. She told me a man named Mario comes over in the mornings and helps push her around in her wheelchair. She told me that Mario digs in the trash for food ("Well, we all dig in the trash sometimes." she said) and she wanted to be able to give him something special the next morning. I gave her a couple of pairs of socks too. She was so thankful to receive them. Because it was so cold she asked me to pray that she would find a place to stay. As she walked back to her tent I could hear her gently crying too. It was tough to leave once again.
So that week when I got down to the last two sandwiches, I was driving down Olympic between Central and Alameda and low and behold there was Alan pulling his two shopping carts with great difficulty. I called out to him as it was just beginning to sprinkle a little bit. He quickly came over to get the food. So in one trip I saw all three of them, that never happens.
So this last Sunday I saw both ladies again. Across from where Maria stays (this is a residential area) there was a birthday party going on. The music was very loud and Maria wasn't too happy about it. She said it will go on far into the night with lots of drinking. Carmen was already in her tent again and struggled to get over to the car. She said she may not be there next week because she is hoping to see a spinal cord specialist sometime this week. I certainly pray they can help her. Her future is going to be pretty bleak if she stays on the street with her handicap.
So the last people I saw this last Sunday were on 10th Pl and 9th St just off San Pedro St. Last week Red was on 10th Pl, but this week he wasn't. There was another man on the side-walk both weeks. I don't know his name, but he told me that he and Red had been beaten up by some people and so had the people on 9th St too. When I drove around the block to 9th I saw Chris by himself in his wheel-chair. I asked him about the thugs who were coming around beating people up. He told me the police had just left when I pulled up. He said they even kicked Debbie around. I was astonished at this because Debbie only weighs 80-lbs, if that. So here you have a defenseless woman and a man with a leg brace in a wheelchair suffering from kidney and liver failure. Sometimes the degree of evil is just disgusting. Chris asked if I had a blanket and I just happened to have one left when I loaded up the car. I had it on the floor of the front seat so I was able to just grab it and hand it to him. He was greatly relieved at getting the blanket, because the thugs keep stealing their stuff from them too. Well, I have to say these weren't really 'happy' trips, but they were important none the less because it helped the morale for these folks for me to be there if nothing else. What a privilege it is. --Until next time. John
PS. I guess I should say something about it being Oscar Sunday. The Academy Awards show was starting up nearby at the Staples Center about the time I was finishing my trip. I have nothing against the movies or even this awards show. The extravagance of it all and the arrogance of the rich kind of gets to me at times as I'm sure it does you. The lifestyles of the rich and the people I see regularly downtown are so vastly different I suppose neither side will ever understand the other.
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