Downtown 8/23/2015

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power."  1 Corinthians 2:4

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power." --1 Corinthians 4:20

Well, for a while now, I seem to be sensing the need to take these trips downtown in a different direction.  It started about a year ago when I began serving the folks living on the street corner at 25th and San Pedro St.  On one trip last year, a recently widowed woman and her grandchildren walked by.  I was introduced to her and prayed for her and her grand kids.  A couple of weeks later I found out where she lived down the block on 25th street and visited her for an hour or so.  Eventually, with her husband gone, she couldn't afford to stay there and she had to move out of the house.  In the process I was somewhat captivated by the idea of reaching the neighborhood for Christ.  I have since learned that the neighborhood is filled with gang activity and drugs.  During the day it appears pretty normal, but at night it transforms into something completely different.  Oddly enough, the corner where I had the 'dinner on a street corner' back in November of last year is completely empty now. There are several folks living in the next alley up San Pedro and I've driven down that alley a couple of times now and served them.  However, I've come to a couple of conclusions about reaching the area.  First and foremost it requires a lot of prayer.  I ran across a quote from a man named Arthur Tappan Pierson (1837-1911).  He was well known in his day for evangelism and missions.  He was also passionate in caring for the poor.  He is quoted as saying, "Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer."  I have noticed that two of the highlights of my six years of going downtown began with prayer walking. The first was prayer walking down Cloud Nine Alley five years ago.  Six weeks later I was standing and speaking to the congregation of a new church started a couple of weeks after I started prayer walking. Then a couple of years ago, after witnessing a gang fight on 7th and Alvarado, and being quite troubled by it, I was lead by the Spirit to start prayer walking in MacArthur Park.  Three months later I was actually preaching with some others with a microphone on the the very corner where the fight occurred.  So...... Yesterday I started prayer walking around the streets of 25th and San Pedro.  It's just simple obedience to my calling.  What will happen?  I don't have a clue. How long will it take for something to happen?  I don't know.  If nothing discernible happens that I can see, then the streets that I offer prayer on will be plowed up for the next person who is called to serve this area.  I will have done my part.  It will not be easy.  Days are getting shorter and my ability to walk very far is getting harder. But there are always going to be obstacles.  I used to think my inability to speak Spanish would be a problem, but the Lord seems to be able to overcome my deficiencies.  That way, He gets all the glory!

Yesterday was the first trip.  So what happened?  Well not much. The first block I walked around there were a couple of families out on their porch/front yard area.  It was evening time, around 5 pm. There were two churches on the block on the west side of San Pedro.  One was having a service and the other had maybe a hundred people in the front courtyard having a summer sports camp.  I had just passed by this second church when a small African-American woman came walking down the sidewalk towards me.  She started talking to me and I immediately started thinking, "Oh, here we go, someone trying to hit me up for money."  Eventually, that is what she wanted...bus fare to a cancer clinic in Glendale.  I have no way of knowing if what she was telling me was true or not.  She was trying to produce papers proving that she was to be admitted there, but hey...whatever right?  Well, all I had was two bucks on me so I gave them to her.  Two dollars was all I had to give, but as I started to walk away from her I thought....."Wait just a minute John.  You can pray for this woman!" So I turned back and said to her, "Hey, let me pray for you before you go."  So I put my arm around her shoulders and prayed for her.  She put her arm around my waist.  Sometimes our opportunities are right there before us and we are too lame to recognize them.  Remember how we wonder that the two disciples on the Emmaus Road didn't recognize Jesus?  We are just like them!!!

So eventually I drove across San Pedro St and found a place to park a block east of there.  I walked around that block, but didn't encounter anyone.  I did see a burned out church on a corner and took some pictures. Here they are:

I don't know the story of what happened here, but I'm going to try and find out.  You know, there are a surprising number of churches in these neighborhoods.  I want to find the most 'burned out' and troubled neighborhoods and prayer walk.  Where hope is most needed, Christ will shine most brightly.  I want to test the strength of the gospel in the most desperate neighborhoods.  Here we go. The adventure begins.

I didn't buy any food yesterday, but I did buy some water and ice. It was another really hot day.  I drove down into 7th and 9th streets and gave out ice water to the homeless folks.  They were really thankful for it.

One other thing worth mentioning.  I had heard on the news that some mentally and physically handicapped people colored 3,000 balls and released them in the lake at MacArthur Park.  I drove by there yesterday to check it out.  Here's the photos below. They said they would be there for a month.
---Until next time.  John

PS.  When I heard the report on the news, I thought the balls were going to be tennis ball size, didn't know they were going to be this big.  It is very colorful. --John

Late Monday downtown-8/17/2015

"I'd hate for someone to suffer because I refused to answer God's calling."  Richard Stearns, from his book "The Hole in the Gospel".

I have worked an extra day for the last 4 or 5 weeks and was looking forward to having these three days (nights actually) off from work.  I ended up waiting until Monday night to go and didn't leave the house until about 8:15 pm.  By the time I got down there and was ready to start looking for folks its was 9:00 pm! Sometimes going so late can be a problem because people on the street are already under blankets or whatever they have and are trying to sleep.  But, I was undeterred.  No matter how late it is, I'm bringing the Kingdom down to the streets of L.A.

I didn't have a lot of resources this week, but knew that at least 3 or 4 people would be on Trinity St. I wasn't too far off (there were more).  First there was Lee, a very diminutive older woman who lives on that street.  She didn't recognize me at first, but when she did she asked for some extra food for another homeless man named Alfred who lives there with her.  He came over to the car too and I was able to give out food and water to both of them.  Just on down the street, where Leticia and Antonio live were two other homeless men, Victor and Cole.  Now Cole I've helped a few times before.  About six months ago I first met him panhandling on the corner of Washington and Grande Vista.  He told me then that his roommate, at the time, had lost his job and they were about to lose their place to stay.  Well, they did and now Cole has been homeless ever since.  It's heartbreaking to see the actual physical changes that occur in people as they start having to live out on the street.  Anyway, I gave both these men some food and water and pulled on down the street about 15 or 20 feet and stopped opposite where Leticia and Antonio were sleeping for the night.  I called out to them and Antonio was the first to get up. They both came over to the car.  Leticia told me that she had found a job.  I really couldn't make out what it was she does, but she indicated that perhaps it will help them get a room!  She asked me if I'd pray for them (she ALWAYS asks me to pray for them).  I told her, "Of course I will!" and got out of the car to stand with them.  I praised God and thanked Him for this opportunity she's been given to earn some money on a regular basis.  While I was out of the car I walked over to the other two men, Victor and Cole, and prayed for them too.  That was when Cole reminded me that we had met before. He probably didn't recognize me until I prayed with them.  Victor, whom I hadn't met before asked me what my name is.  Hopefully, I'll see them both again soon.

I only had a couple of burgers left and drove over to Olive St.  By now it was 9:30 pm.  I saw a man sleeping on a couple of mattresses right on the edge of the sidewalk.  I didn't recognize him until I drove up, but his name is Carlos.  He's usually had a couple of beers when I see him and tonight he woke up a little groggy.  Anyway, he said he was hungry and I gave him the last of the food and some water.  I prayed for him and he said, "Thank you Pappa" as I drove away.

In every encounter this night I prayed for everyone and in every case they all started eating the food given as soon as I gave it to them.  I'll use trips like this as a reminder that no matter how tired I am, there are people in need, who are counting on me being obedient to my calling.  Until next time. John

Tuesday night downtown-7/28/2015

But for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self -control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. --2 Peter 1:5-9

OK, so the last two weekends I have had to work so I couldn't make a trip downtown.  Tonight I could so I went down there, kind of late.  I drove to 25th and San Pedro where I had the dinner on the sidewalk back in November, but no one was there.  That's the first time no one has been there since I've been going there for well over a year.  There were some people in the next alley towards 24th though, so I drove down there and stayed with them a while.  There were a couple of new people I hadn't met before.  One man, whose name was Miguel, was very thankful for the food.  I gave out sandwiches to everyone (about 5 or 6 people) and then handed out the last of the socks I had.  Later, when I noticed Miguel only had some sandals on I dug around in the back of the car and came up with a pair of shoes.  Socks aren't much help if you don't have shoes to wear right?  (Although socks will keep your feet warm at night when your sleeping.)  I prayed for Miguel separately and then for everyone there.  That was a good stop.  I asked about Hiram who lived on 25th and San Pedro and one of the women there said he has finally gotten an SRO place on 21st.  I'll have to find out exactly where so I can go and visit him.  I really like seeing Hiram.

I gave a couple of sandwiches out to some people in another ally behind the Auto Zone store on Washington and Griffith and then drove over to Trinity St and saw Antonio and Leticia (yes she had me pray for her too) and around the block I found Lee on Washington Blvd.  She's usually on Trinity too, but not tonight.

I was down to one last sandwich and found a guy on 9th at Maple.  He was sitting up inside his make shift boxes/shelter with just his head sticking up.  I drove passed him, but stopped and backed up so I could offer him the last of the food.  Another man was walking by him and he bummed a cigarette off him.  When I pulled up I wanted to take his picture sitting behind the box, but thought better of it because I didn't want to offend him, so I just offered the food and water.  When he got up to come over, he didn't have any shoes or socks on.  I don't know if he didn't have any, or just didn't have them on, but he kind of hobbled over to me.  I was out of both shoes and socks anyway, so I couldn't offer him anything more besides the food and water.  He was appreciative of those though.  His name was Victor.  I look for him again next time.  --Until then.  John

Downtown 7/5/2015

When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him , he asked Philip, 'Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?'  He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.  Philip answered, 'Don't you know that it would take almost a year's wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?'  Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples.  He spoke up and said, 'There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish.  But what good is that with all these people?' ---John 6:5-9

After last week's meeting with a group of men on 9th near San Pedro I had promised to return to them again this week.  I have been trying to figure out how to maximize the small resources I have to purchase food and decided to finally buy the ingredients to make more food available.  I have resisted this primarily because there may be some liability issues that I'm not prepared for.  I have done the BBQ's though which is the same thing and have had no problems, so I decided to give this a test run and bought a bunch of lunch meat and bread and made my own.  So now the preparations for these trips is a lot more than before and if you pretty much give everything out in one stop the trip is far shorter than the prep time.  Anyway, so be it, it allows more time to pray for the people I'll be seeing. Also, I won't be seeing a large group every week and having more food available means reaching more people.  Have you noticed how planning and logistics are playing a prominent role now?  I usually buy enough food to give out to 8 people.  This week the plan was to have a sandwich for twelve people.

I got off the freeway at about 5:45 pm and found three people needing help before I got to 9th and San Pedro.  When I got there about 7 men and 1 woman were there initially.  A couple of others came by after all the food was given out.  So I had nine sandwiches to give out to the eight original people and then one man had asked for another one (he practically begged me for it). How could I refuse? When I pulled up Gustavo, who I had met a couple of months ago with another man named Red were both there.  Gustavo had a microphone and speaker and he was just yakking away in Spanish.  I'm not really sure what he was talking about, I think he was just narrating life there in the parking lot. He actually offered to give me the microphone to preach.  I told him when it's time to pray OK, but that was it.  Most of these men understand very little English although Gustavo is fluent in both languages.  Perhaps another time he can interpret for me. But when it was time to pray, Gustavo got everyone up and holding hands together and as I prayed he held the microphone up so it picked up the prayer time.  A short time after this Red brought another man up to me by the name of Miguel Gomez. Miguel was in tears.  Red told me that he had gone to a hospital/clinic for a pain in his side and small back area.  They couldn't help him.  I said let me pray for him right now.  So I turned Miguel around and with my right hand on his shoulder and my left hand on his side I prayed for the pain to go away.  I don't know if it helped or not, but he kept thanking me and said "God bless you." repeatedly.  The only thing I can add to this is that when I was told Miguel had an ailment, I didn't hesitate to pray for him, it was such an automatic response to the situation.  I don't think I've ever felt quite that way before in similar situations.

Well, I had reloaded the car with shirts since the last visit and they all went through the clothes,so that was a big hit again.  I gave out hugs to just about everyone.  It was another good visit and time well spent with these folks. Its so hard to describe what it feels like to bring the Kingdom of God to folks caught in life's hopeless situations.  I really love these people and the opportunities God has given me to help them.  Here's some photo's of the trip:

 That's Red with his back to the camera and Julio, from last week, with his USA shirt on below.

This is Miguel Gomez, the one with the back pain.

A fitting end to a great trip.--Until next time. --John

  

 








 

Downtown Sunday 6/28/2015

Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come.  His answer was, "The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen.  No one will say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!'; because the Kingdom of God is within you." --Luke 17:20-21

I had prayed before leaving the house and while en route downtown that I would be cognizant of bringing the Kingdom of God with me wherever I went.  I wanted to be aware of it and I wanted the people I met with to experience the peace and tranquility of being in the midst of His kingdom.

I got down there later than I had hoped.  It has been very hot here in Southern California the past few days and today was no exception.  Although the temperature peaked in the mid 90's, by the time I got down there it was probably 85 or so.  I wanted to bring a lot of bottled water on ice (which I did), but had hoped to be there during the hottest time of the day.  Perhaps, when I showed up was the best time anyway. I had driven around quite a bit before really finding anybody.  I did see Sonya, the Korean woman from a couple of weeks back.  She was laying on the sidewalk on Alameda right where I saw her the last time.  She remembered me and was surprised I remembered her name. She knows very little English and she started to tell me a somewhat long and involved story in her native language.  At first I wanted to politely move on, but realized I was probably the only person who took the time to help her today and listen to what she had to say.  Even though I couldn't understand a word of it, I smiled and patiently listened to her.  I think she was telling me about someone who took all her belongings a while back.  Everyone needs to be heard by someone sometime.  I was Sonya's someone today.

Well I kept driving around and ended up going down a small alley where I met some folks a few weeks back.  I haven't seen those people there since then, but as I started to drive away I noticed a group of men (about a half dozen) sitting in front of a wall in an adjacent parking lot from the alley. I kept driving, but kept feeling like I was supposed to go back to where these men were sitting.  So back I went and drove right up to where they were all sitting.  I asked if anyone was hungry.  That was the only password I needed.  I got out and started handing out burgers which they all loved and then the water.  Some of the men had been drinking a few beers in the heat of the day and I think the water was a welcome relief.  One of the men I had seen there the last time was Shorty (I think that was his name).  He didn't stay too long, probably because he didn't speak Spanish like all the other men there.  Before he left he asked if he could get a T-shirt from the back of the car.  So when I opened up the back and told them they could all have a shirt or whatever they could find there was a big crowd at the back of the car.  All the T-shirts and shoes were taken.  One of the men was Julio. He spoke pretty good English and told me he had been in this country since he was seven years old. He kind of caught me off guard when he asked me if I was Irish!  One of the men who was very talkative (due to the beers) was quite a kidder.  I'm not sure what all he was kidding me about, but it was all in fun and pleasant.  I had been by there on a Monday night a few weeks ago and noticed a Spanish speaking church group had set up some speakers and were preaching there about the time the sun went down.  I asked about them and was told they show up every Monday night.  

So all of these men were Spanish speaking men.  All in all, probably a dozen men were there or came by during the time I was there.  Yet through it all I was at perfect peace and in perfect harmony with them all.  I think there were a couple of others who spoke some English, but really only one, Julio, carried on a lengthy conversation with me in English.  Luckily, I know some Spanish so I wasn't completely unable to talk to them in their language.  Here are a couple of photos...

Julio is the guy in the bottom photo with the USA tank top on.  Juan is the man on the right.  He is a big soccer and Laker fan.  These guys were just to the left of the guys in the top photo.  I tried to put these photos next to each other, but couldn't get it to fit.  Julio was a pretty happy guy, I'm so glad he was there.  When it was time for me to leave I told them I was going to pray for them all.  When I finished praying and opened my eyes, they had all gathered around me with their heads bowed.  It just gets me every time....  the Kingdom landed there in a parking lot in downtown LA.  --Until next time.  John

Downtown 6/14/2015

The Great Commission:

     Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.  And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'  Amen  

So here was a trip I'll remember for a long, long time.  It started kind of slow.  I hadn't been to East Los Angeles for a while, so I thought I'd drive by Lincoln Park and see what was up.  Most of the homeless that had set up encampments have been moved out.  There were a few birthday parties going on in the park, but not many homeless folks were there, at least not yet.  As I drove back into the downtown area I even noticed a spot where some Cuban men used to live had been cleaned out too.  So I drove on (south) down Alameda and helped one Korean woman named Sonya.  She didn't speak much English, but she knew enough to know I was offering her food.  She also asked for the only blanket I had with me.  

Well, I drove around some more, but didn't see any of the kind of people I usually try to target, so I drove on into what the locals refer to as the 'T-flats' or just the 'flats'.  It's the south side of Washington Blvd and I ended up going by 25th St and San Pedro. I only saw a couple of people there and I wasn't planning on stopping, but as I drove back north the first alley I passed had several people in it and one of them was Becky.  I drove around the block and entered the alley from the other end. The group of people were almost to the San Pedro end.  Anyway, as I pulled up Nicky, who helped me serve the people back in November when I had the dinner on the street corner, recognized me and immediately came over and kissed my hand when I reached out to her.  Then she told everyone there that didn't know me who I was.  It was quite a welcome.  There were about 8 or 9 people there and about an even mix of men and women.  I opened up the back of the car and let them look through everything.  I had nine sandwiches left when I got there, within a couple of minutes they were all gone.  The energy level of the folks skyrocketed, they were so happy.  I stayed for quite a while talking with them. Others would come by asking for clothes, but they were pretty much picked through.  Just about everyone got a pair or two of new socks.  There were three or four older women there that I hadn't met before.  One of them was in tears after I prayed for everyone.  Here's some pictures from the alley:

I opened this blog with the famous commission verse by Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20).  We often romanticize this by thinking in terms of going to exotic places to preach the gospel.  Yet, here I am in an alley off 25th and San Pedro in Los Angeles, California where anywhere from 6-10 people live every night.  As I pulled up one of the women was going to the bathroom about 10 yards away from the rest of the group.  They have no hope of ever getting off the street unless someone intervenes or a family member offers to take them back in.  It's hardly a romantic awe-inspiring location, yet I was received with open arms.  I left here and went around the block to where I served many of these people last November. Hiram and another man were on that sidewalk.  I talked with Hiram for twenty minutes or so.  Nicky had told me to go see him because he was emotionally down.  He used to drive trucks like I did for years so we swapped trucking stories for a while.  He told me he hoped to get into a SRO housing facility in a week or so off 21st and Hoover.  He told me his son lived in Whittier, but I guess relations are strained.  I told Hiram there is one thing he can pray about and that is that God will soften and change peoples hearts.  The thing is that often times the first one that needs changing is our own.  I'll be praying for him tonight. When I was with the other folks in the alley I had finished praying for them, but wanted to leave them with one more thought.  I reminded them that the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. That's when I noticed the one woman in tears.  Wow...I just loved this trip!!!


So when I got home, this is who was cheering for me upon my arrival.....

Yep...our dog Zoey.  Until next time.  John

Sunday night-5-31-15

"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