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Old Friends |
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| rejected, abandoned or misfit? |
June 3, 2007 |
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Dear Friends,
That's Dee. The sly smile creeping in doesn't begin to do this guy justice. 19 years serving on the same street in skid row and for 19 years I've known Dee. Jodi and the team set aside a meal for him each week. He swoops in, grabs his plate, comes over and we hug, chat for a minute and he always says the same thing- "I've got to get back to work!" As if he heads the financial district but he just couldn't let his good friends come to town without stopping by to give his best. Dee's a trip. I can't imagine my life without him in it. I have no idea why a good man like Dee still battles chronic homelessness. If he's rejected society, if we've abandoned him or if somehow he just doesn't "fit" into our image of normal. Maybe it's a collection of all of the above and then some. One thing I know is that there's no easy solution to his current situation. Dee's one of the many reasons we keep coming back to the streets; Dee and the tens of thousands like him still living in abject poverty while the rest of us debate the merits of Plasma -vs- LCD TV, HD -vs- Blue Ray players. Poverty is in our midst... and so we go to the streets.
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So Many Wait |
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Dee's not alone. That's Robert, another old friend on the streets who showed up Sunday night. He's a sweet guy who always has all the right words. One rarely finds him without a boom box on his shoulder or in his hand- it's the soundtrack of his life. After cruising through line, touching base with everyone, he usually hits "our" Robert, always a soft touch, up for a little cash, which I think he always gets. This week he wanted prayer. He knows a better way to live and he knows he's not living it. Most of us can relate. It's just that Robert's bad decisions keep him in abject poverty; his boom box and Sunday evenings a couple of his remaining blessings. Robert and Dee have not just become important people in my life, they've helped educate me in the realities of poverty that I've never had to confront. One lonely lesson every man and woman living on the streets must face daily is this: "You don't have any friends on the street. People you know. Some you may be forced to depend on from time to time, but no friends." People living to protect the asphalt they sleep on, the cardboard that comforts them, the few remaining posessions they carry on their back can scarce afford the luxury of friendship and the risk as well as rewards it carries. So many on the streets blame no one but themselves and expect no one to pull them up out of their problems and pray no one pulls them any further down. They live day to day... and they wait... uncertain of what they're waiting for.
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Light in the Darkness |
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Evelyn smiles as she serves up another bowl of Jodi's steaming hot chili. Easy to see why so many continue to stand in line every Sunday evening: incredible food, smiling faces and wonderful people who want nothing but the opportunity to serve. Odd, but some of the best moments in my ministry have taken place on skid row. It's a gift to share the lives of those living in poverty and those giving themselves to serve them each week. It'd make an incredible tv show or movie... I just don't think it has a believable story line. The wealthiest society on the planet, leaving her most vulnerable members- the impoverished, the hungry, many of them veterans, many others parents, all of them some one's child, alone in the darkness to fend for themselves, waiting... hoping... standing in line for a meal, embracing the smiling face of a friend they see once a week in the middle of the night. It's a story hard for me to believe- and I've been living it for a couple of decades... wow... that's enough to make you feel old. But every Monday morning, when the rest of the world gets ready to start the week, I find myself reliving the night before... processing another evening on the streets... praying that my heart would never grow cold, that God continues to give us strength to go, to serve, to love and be loved.
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Our Memorial Day Team |
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The "hardcore" Jackets for Jesus team- at least that's what Bart called them- they kept things going when so many of us were in Mexico last weekend building with Siempre Para Los Ninos. Those good looking folks are some of the people that help keep hope alive in the hearts of hundreds every week. When they could come up with all the same "good reasons" not to go that the rest of the world uses to ignore the homeless. They choose to rotate work, family, school, social and sleep schedules around their continued service to the poor through Jackets for Jesus in good times and bad. Bart made it home from his mother's funeral in Holland in time to get them all to the streets and to bring his family as well. I'm constantly humbled to serve with such amazing people and they're always incredibly generous to cover "my" spot on the streets when I need to be away. One of the best parts of Jackets for Jesus is the blessing of knowing and sharing the lives of so many good people. People drop in... and drop out of service for more reasons then I can remember. Each week I'm inspired by those who remain faithful- by those who remember Dee, Robert and the thousands like them that the world overlooks without giving a second thought. I'm humbled to serve with such wonderful friends and we're humbled that you keep us in your prayers and continue to support our work together among the poor. When there's not room in the van- we just take an extra vehicle -it's because you're invited, you're needed, now, more than ever.
for changing lives,
Eric
PS Bart wrote a Memorial Day Weekend Update- take the time to read it at the link below
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Jackets for Jesus | 5623 Arlington Ave | Riverside | CA | 92504 |
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