Halloween With the Homeless

Ed & I have never worked on Halloween before - it always fell on our days off - so we weren't sure what to expect this year. Surprisingly, it was a very quiet night. Maybe because it was in the middle of the week we saw almost no one on the streets - very few homeless people and/or non-homeless people. The weather was beautiful for Halloween so we expected to see more partiers, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Go figure !

The following day we had an extra special shift that was filled with blessings. First, one of our very generous supporters that we hadn't seen for awhile because he was working out of town contacted us. He had gone shopping and he thought of us. He brought us a large bag of winter gloves, another filled with socks, and another with underwear. He also included a lot of toiletries - toothbrushes, shampoo etc. God bless you Dave for your generosity.

Next we came across a camp of five people in a back alley. They were excited to see us and gratefull to share in the blessings Dave had left with us. One of the women had a toy bunny she had gotten from somewhere, when you pressed it's paw it danced. We laughed and talked for awhile, then we prayed with them. It was awesome. One of the men had tears in his eyes.

A little later we came across another group of people sleeping in another alley. Again they were excited about the donations we were able to distribute. It was like Christmas to them. Sometimes we have passed that camp late at night when they were asleep already and we would leave bag lunches by them for morning. One of the men commented that it always made them feel good to wake up in the morning and find the lunches and know that it meant that we had come by while they were sleeping to check up on them. We again had the opportunity to pray with them.

To make our shift complete we came across a man who for a whole year has been bitter and angry. He would often swear and spit at us when we saw him. That night for some reason he was moved to apologize for his previous behavior and actually spoke with us and accepted a bag lunch!

Thank you God. Sometimes the work we do can be very tiring and takes a lot out of us and we sometimes wonder why we do it. That night we KNEW why we do it.

Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion -- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.