Today I was reminded of a common thought process that I simply don't agree with. A friend of mine said basically that they were done with one way friendships. No longer are they going to put out all the energy to keep a relationship going. After all...friendship is a two way street.
"Friendship is a two way street" is something that I have heard from different people all of my life. The exact wording may be different but the idea is always the same. You shouldn't pour your time and energy into someone else if you are not going to get that same effort back in return.
I have a couple different reasons that I disagree with this view on friendships/relationships. I will get into those in a moment but first let me say that I am not talking about a dating relationship. If you are trying to find someone to spend your life with then you should see that person put as much time and energy into your relationship as you are going to put into that relationship. What I am talking about is your other relationships. Your friends, your co-workers and even your family members for that matter. Now that I have cleared that up let's talk about why I don't agree with friendship being a two way street.
Reason number 1 is that Jesus said that it was not a two way street. In Luke 6 He explains that it is easy to love people when they love you back. Anyone can love those that love them, but we are suppose to love those that hate us and when someone borrows from you don't ask for it back (that last part is one that most people don't agree with...even if Jesus said it.)
So let's say that you don't really care what Jesus said because you don't consider yourself a Christian or maybe you don't think that is really talking about carrying on a relationship when it feels like you are the only one who is putting any effort into it. That is fine...but what about the people that poured into your life when you were uninterested and didn't really care if they were there or not?
We have all had that teacher, friend, cousin or neighbor that was always doing something nice just because it was the right thing to do. We didn't always appreciate them, we didn't always want them around even, but they kept on doing the right thing and pouring their time and energy into our life. Where would you be without those people? What would your life be like if everyone in your life treated you like you sometimes choose to treat someone else?
I'm not saying you need to be a doormat...or maybe I am. My life (especially my adult life) has been spent doing my best to be there for other people. I don't expect anything in return and a lot of times I get exactly what I expect. People have told me that I shouldn't be that way. I shouldn't waste my time on lost causes. I simply don't agree. If you can't help me in any way, that is all the more reason for me to help you. If I am doing something for you because you will repay me then I am doing it for me and not for you. You will never know true satisfaction from doing things with the expectation of repayment. Friendship is not a two way street. Give every chance you get. Do all you can for others. When you need a hand to help you up, you will be able to take your pick. It doesn't take much to change a life or to rise above average when it comes to being a good friend.
Friendship can be a two way street...but if it ends up being a one-way road that doesn't mean it is a dead end.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
LOVE WINS
Today the UPS man dropped off my copy of LOVE WINS by Rob Bell. I'm going to read it. I'm interested to see what it is says...and I am trying to not judge it before I open it up.
As a person who has dedicated his life to telling people about the love that God has for them and that this love came to maturity when Jesus laid down His life for them (John 3:16...we all know that one) it is hard for me to hear some of the things that I have heard Rob Bell say when talking about his new book.
On the other hand, I have heard him in an interview give a different side. He was talking about Jesus specifically, he mentioned that Jesus paid the price. So I'm not sure what I am going to get when I open this book.
Has this all been a marketing ploy? Is this just get people like me to buy a copy of this book and then find out that all the interviews were just smoke and mirrors? Is it just a play on words and he doesn't really believe anything different than what most mainstream "evangelicals" believe?
I'm not sure...but I will let you all know when I find out. I think I am going to read some of this book today.
As a person who has dedicated his life to telling people about the love that God has for them and that this love came to maturity when Jesus laid down His life for them (John 3:16...we all know that one) it is hard for me to hear some of the things that I have heard Rob Bell say when talking about his new book.
On the other hand, I have heard him in an interview give a different side. He was talking about Jesus specifically, he mentioned that Jesus paid the price. So I'm not sure what I am going to get when I open this book.
Has this all been a marketing ploy? Is this just get people like me to buy a copy of this book and then find out that all the interviews were just smoke and mirrors? Is it just a play on words and he doesn't really believe anything different than what most mainstream "evangelicals" believe?
I'm not sure...but I will let you all know when I find out. I think I am going to read some of this book today.
Friday, March 18, 2011
What is going on with Japan...and the world?
When Katrina hit we had $514 million dollars in aid in the first week...in Japan's first week $87 million! Now I know it was close to home when the hurricane hit, but come on. It just doesn't seem right.
We can tell everyone we care about people, but what do our actions say? Just because you may not have a relative that lives in Japan doesn't mean that you shouldn't help. Just because they are thousands of miles away instead of hundreds of miles away doesn't mean we should care any less. What do you think would have happened if this earthquake had been off the coast of California? Do you think we would have had less than 20% of the response we had to Katrina?
I see people posting pictures, prayers, candles...etc. on their facebook and sending out tweets saying we are praying for the people who were affected...but what good is it to talk and not do?
We can tell everyone we care about people, but what do our actions say? Just because you may not have a relative that lives in Japan doesn't mean that you shouldn't help. Just because they are thousands of miles away instead of hundreds of miles away doesn't mean we should care any less. What do you think would have happened if this earthquake had been off the coast of California? Do you think we would have had less than 20% of the response we had to Katrina?
I see people posting pictures, prayers, candles...etc. on their facebook and sending out tweets saying we are praying for the people who were affected...but what good is it to talk and not do?
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." -1 John 3:17-18
Monday, January 10, 2011
Life...The Way It Is (pt. 3)
Sorry for the delay in this post. With the holidays and everything I just didn't get a chance to sit down and write. Here we go...
It was around 3 in the afternoon and the five of us (Dirk, Jadon, Tracy, Bryan and me) were walking away from the Salvation Army towards the River Market to get a cup of coffee. On the way there Bryan was saying that we would probably run into Billy (the alcoholic that Bryan helped change tent locations) and his friend Mike. Mike had called Bryan a little earlier and said that Billy was really drunk and he was going to have to drag him back to the Salvation Army. Not too long after we started talking about Billy we look down the road and saw Mike.
When we got to him we could see he was really upset. He said that he tried! He tried to get Billy to come with him but he just wouldn't leave. Mike told us the story. Billy was drunk (and is also on 12 different medications for all sorts of things including blood pressure). He started to get a little out of hand so the security officer at the River Market told them to leave or he would call the police. Well Billy decided he needed to go to the bathroom first, so he did. The problem was it was in the River Market and the police officer was already there. The officer told Mike he had two options. Either the officer could take Billy to jail or he could take him to the hospital. Mike said to take him to the hospital! They loaded Billy into a squad car and Mike started walking back to the Salvation Army and that is when we met him.
He told Bryan to go up to Billy's tent and get his bag. It had all of his I.D. in it along with all of his medications. He also wanted Bryan to charge Billy's phone and bring it up to him. Mike opened up his backpack and pulled out several chargers. He sorted through them to figure out which one was Billy's. He gave Bryan the charger and the phone and then Mike walked off.
We decided to turn around and not go to the River Market for coffee. We decided that we would go to this place down under the train station that Bryan had got coffee the day before. We all walked back past the Salvation Army and towards the train station. As we walked I found out that Dirk had been laid off from his job up in northern Arkansas and he thought Little Rock would have more work. When he got here he found out that was not really the case. The three of them were staying in the Salvation Army and Dirk and Jaden were out looking for jobs every day. They were applying in person and online (they go to the library and look jobs up that way) as well as going to the day-labor agencies to see what was available. In order for them to stay at the Salvation Army they had to spend a certain amount of time looking for jobs and fill out forms as to where they were going and what they were doing. I also found out that they were going to be leaving the Salvation Army in a couple days because Tracy was getting kicked out. She was 4 months pregnant at the time and could not walk all over town looking for a job. Because she wasn't out looking for a job there was a limited amount of time she was allowed to stay at the Salvation Army and her time was almost up.
When we got the the "restaurant" under the train station it didn't appear to be open. We walked up and tried the door and it was locked. Also there was nothing on the window or door that told us what time they would open up! We saw a couple of guys working on a sound system at a second door that was about 25 feet to our right and up on a porch (we had walked up the front steps to the door to what was the main entrance.) We decided to ask them if we could just buy a few cups of coffee. When we go over to the door we opened it up and asked if we could buy some coffee. We told them that Bryan had got some yesterday and as we were talking to them the manager, who had given Bryan coffee and a donation for the outreach ministry the day before, walked up behind us. He explained to us that this was not really a restaurant. It was an event venue that people rented for special events. We told him we were just looking for a cup of coffee and he told us to follow him. We walked to the back into the kitchen and he started to get coffee for us all! He doctored it up the way everyone wanted it and Tracy got a hot chocolate. We talked with him for a few minutes and told him how much we appreciated his hospitality. He was the only non-homeless person who didn't work at a shelter or soup kitchen that really reached out to us while I was on the street. Well he was the only one besides the people that came to visit us (we had some friends visit...but that will come in a minute.)
So now we all had coffee (and one hot chocolate). We decided to relax and sit on the steps and talk. Bryan got a phone call from someone who was going to stop by and say hello. As we sat there we talked more about where everyone was from and how they all got here. As we were talking about Jadon and his military background a car pulled up. It turns out that it was Sharon Bailey. She is a woman that Bryan knew from the church he went to before he started at Benton First Assembly. She was coming down just to hang out and see what was going on. We stayed on the steps and she got to know Tracy, Dirk and Jadon. She asked each of them about their job history and where they were from. Jadon found out that Sharon was in the military too. It was a good time of just sitting around and talking.
We were all done with our drinks and it was almost time for the three of them that were staying at the Salvation Army to go back inside (if you are staying the night at the Salvation Army you have to be inside by a certain time, somewhere around 4:30 or 5...I don't really remember exactly) because they lock the doors after that. When we got back up to the sidewalk across from the Salvation Army Bryan got another phone call. This one was from channel 11 news station. They wanted to come down and interview him right now!
We will talk about what happened after his phone call in part 4.
It was around 3 in the afternoon and the five of us (Dirk, Jadon, Tracy, Bryan and me) were walking away from the Salvation Army towards the River Market to get a cup of coffee. On the way there Bryan was saying that we would probably run into Billy (the alcoholic that Bryan helped change tent locations) and his friend Mike. Mike had called Bryan a little earlier and said that Billy was really drunk and he was going to have to drag him back to the Salvation Army. Not too long after we started talking about Billy we look down the road and saw Mike.
When we got to him we could see he was really upset. He said that he tried! He tried to get Billy to come with him but he just wouldn't leave. Mike told us the story. Billy was drunk (and is also on 12 different medications for all sorts of things including blood pressure). He started to get a little out of hand so the security officer at the River Market told them to leave or he would call the police. Well Billy decided he needed to go to the bathroom first, so he did. The problem was it was in the River Market and the police officer was already there. The officer told Mike he had two options. Either the officer could take Billy to jail or he could take him to the hospital. Mike said to take him to the hospital! They loaded Billy into a squad car and Mike started walking back to the Salvation Army and that is when we met him.
He told Bryan to go up to Billy's tent and get his bag. It had all of his I.D. in it along with all of his medications. He also wanted Bryan to charge Billy's phone and bring it up to him. Mike opened up his backpack and pulled out several chargers. He sorted through them to figure out which one was Billy's. He gave Bryan the charger and the phone and then Mike walked off.
We decided to turn around and not go to the River Market for coffee. We decided that we would go to this place down under the train station that Bryan had got coffee the day before. We all walked back past the Salvation Army and towards the train station. As we walked I found out that Dirk had been laid off from his job up in northern Arkansas and he thought Little Rock would have more work. When he got here he found out that was not really the case. The three of them were staying in the Salvation Army and Dirk and Jaden were out looking for jobs every day. They were applying in person and online (they go to the library and look jobs up that way) as well as going to the day-labor agencies to see what was available. In order for them to stay at the Salvation Army they had to spend a certain amount of time looking for jobs and fill out forms as to where they were going and what they were doing. I also found out that they were going to be leaving the Salvation Army in a couple days because Tracy was getting kicked out. She was 4 months pregnant at the time and could not walk all over town looking for a job. Because she wasn't out looking for a job there was a limited amount of time she was allowed to stay at the Salvation Army and her time was almost up.
When we got the the "restaurant" under the train station it didn't appear to be open. We walked up and tried the door and it was locked. Also there was nothing on the window or door that told us what time they would open up! We saw a couple of guys working on a sound system at a second door that was about 25 feet to our right and up on a porch (we had walked up the front steps to the door to what was the main entrance.) We decided to ask them if we could just buy a few cups of coffee. When we go over to the door we opened it up and asked if we could buy some coffee. We told them that Bryan had got some yesterday and as we were talking to them the manager, who had given Bryan coffee and a donation for the outreach ministry the day before, walked up behind us. He explained to us that this was not really a restaurant. It was an event venue that people rented for special events. We told him we were just looking for a cup of coffee and he told us to follow him. We walked to the back into the kitchen and he started to get coffee for us all! He doctored it up the way everyone wanted it and Tracy got a hot chocolate. We talked with him for a few minutes and told him how much we appreciated his hospitality. He was the only non-homeless person who didn't work at a shelter or soup kitchen that really reached out to us while I was on the street. Well he was the only one besides the people that came to visit us (we had some friends visit...but that will come in a minute.)
So now we all had coffee (and one hot chocolate). We decided to relax and sit on the steps and talk. Bryan got a phone call from someone who was going to stop by and say hello. As we sat there we talked more about where everyone was from and how they all got here. As we were talking about Jadon and his military background a car pulled up. It turns out that it was Sharon Bailey. She is a woman that Bryan knew from the church he went to before he started at Benton First Assembly. She was coming down just to hang out and see what was going on. We stayed on the steps and she got to know Tracy, Dirk and Jadon. She asked each of them about their job history and where they were from. Jadon found out that Sharon was in the military too. It was a good time of just sitting around and talking.
We were all done with our drinks and it was almost time for the three of them that were staying at the Salvation Army to go back inside (if you are staying the night at the Salvation Army you have to be inside by a certain time, somewhere around 4:30 or 5...I don't really remember exactly) because they lock the doors after that. When we got back up to the sidewalk across from the Salvation Army Bryan got another phone call. This one was from channel 11 news station. They wanted to come down and interview him right now!
We will talk about what happened after his phone call in part 4.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Life...The Way It Is (pt. 2)
In my last post Bryan and I had just walked out of the Salvation Army after breakfast. Today we decided we were going to walk around to a couple of places. We are going to have lunch at the "Stew Pot" which is a soup kitchen that I had heard about and then we were going to walk over to the Arkansas Dream Center and see if there was anything we could help them with, but first things first. Our phones needed to be charged! Our first stop, the River Market to charge our phones.
One thing people assume is that homeless people would not have cell phones. The vast majority of them (at least in Little Rock) do in fact have cell phones, so us wanting to charge our phones was not too out of the ordinary. Bryan told me that the day before he had been kicked out of the River Market because he didn't buy anything and they wanted the seats for "paying customers." Now since we had just eaten a big breakfast at the Salvation Army and the River Market is not much more than a mile away we were still full after the walk over. Bryan didn't bring any money with him for his week on the street...I brought a few dollars with me. I bought us coffee and we sat in the middle of the River Market and charged our phones. Security started to walk over to talk to us and then he saw our coffee and literally turned around and walked away. I didn't feel welcome and none of the customers would make eye contact with us (except the homeless people who were all sitting next to each other about ten feet away from us).
Our phones were now charged and it was now time to start walking again. The Stew Pot was not really that close to the River Market so we started walking. As we walked we talked about the buildings and abandoned run-down houses that would be awesome to turn into transitional housing or a shelter. I was surprised at the amount of abandoned buildings...I'm not sure why I was surprised. I guess there were just parts of Little Rock I had never been to before or at least never noticed when I was driving. A city is different on foot.
We got to the Stew Pot and I found out it is inside an First Presbyterian Church. There were a handful of people sitting on the steps waiting for lunchtime to arrive. Bryan and I went and sat on a small ledge and watched as more and more homeless people arrived. While we were sitting there Bryan pulled his phone out and sent a text to someone. A gentleman saw his phone and walked up to us. He asked if Bryan had his charger with him. Bryan said yes as the man pulled his phone out of his pocket. He told us a story about how his phone is a "government" phone (there is some sort of plan that supplies the homeless with free phones, they are pay by the minute phones) and his charger had fallen apart as he was plugging it in while he was at work. He asked Bryan if he would charge it for him and Bryan agreed. He then handed the phone to Bryan and walked away. That struck me as odd...that he would just give a stranger his phone and walk away. There is an interesting community view that the homeless seem to share that I don't really understand yet.
As we were sitting there waiting to go in I saw some dirty looks and heard a couple people make comments about us being cops. Also there was some sort of gang dynamic that I didn't understand (Bryan was a gang member when he was younger...and I guess that is something that is always with you to some extent. I don't know.) So needless to say it was fairly uncomfortable for both of us so I was thankful when they opened the door to let us inside. We walked up two stories to where the lunch was served.
I got into a conversation with the guy that was in line in front of me about how cold it was outside. He was wearing a cammo army uniform all the way down to the boots. He had a metal cane and gloves that had the fingers cut off. I never asked him if he was actually a veteran (he was younger than me...but that doesn't mean anything) or if he just had the clothes. He told me he was warm except for his nose, which he explained had been broken recently. He then pulled it totally over to the side giving himself a small nose bleed and he said he got nose bleeds all the time. He explained that he would have to have surgery and that the cold bothered his nose but the rest of his body was fine. He told me about the 5 or 6 layers of clothes he had on at that very moment. Then we were next to get our food.
I thanked the ladies who were serving us lunch and they seemed to be shocked that I would thank them! One of them said, "You're VERY welcome and have a merry Christmas!" I guess they don't get a lot of thank you's because it is a daily service that they perform. I don't know, I just found it odd. Bryan and I finished our breakfast and the guy came back to see if Bryan was charging his phone. Bryan told him he couldn't find an outlet and the guy said he didn't see one either. He gave the phone back and and the guy walked away.
The lunch they served was again a really large lunch which included salad, chicken noodle soup, bread, coffee, pudding and dessert which was our choice of assorted donuts, bread-pudding or cake. After lunch we walked outside and started to head to the Arkansas Dream Center (which was several miles away). Before we got off the church's property I saw two drug deals. I will talk about the drug deals and other things in a later post, but for now I am going to go on with our day.
We walked across town to the Arkansas Dream Center. We got only to find it empty. Apparently we were too early. It is staffed by volunteers who are college students and they were not back yet, so we turned around and walked away. Bryan wanted to show me the tent city that he had found up in the woods by the capital so we started walking.
We got there and he showed me Billy's tent. Billy is an alcoholic that used to have his tent in the woods in a different location but people kept stealing his stuff when he would leave. He is on 12 medications (which is not a good mix with the booze) and recently had his pills stolen. Two days before Bryan had walked 20+ blocks to the pharmacy to fill his prescription for him after his pills were taken. The day before I arrived Bryan moved Billy to a new location where no one would know where he was. That way his stuff would at least be safer...for now.
We followed a path down the side of a hill behind Billy's tent and came into what used to be a tent city! It was about 25 campsites that were now almost all empty. Homeless people had made a community here at one time and then they had moved on. Bryan told me a story he had heard about that tent city. During the summer most of the empty spots were full. One gentleman would go down to the river and fish all day. At night he would come up and cook fish on an open fire for everyone who was staying in their tent city. Now I know he was homeless and without a job...so he didn't have a lot of other things to do, but that is still pretty impressive. He was doing things for those around him knowing that all he would get back was a thank you. That is not something that you see a lot out of people. Just think about the last time you spent 8 hours of your time doing something for someone who you are not related to that could do nothing for you in return. Just a side thought...but think about it...and now back to the story.
When we made it through the abandoned tent city we walked down to the train tracks. We followed the tracks up to the train station and Bryan told me another story. There is an events center that you can rent for receptions, parties...etc. on the bottom floor of the train station that I had never seen. Bryan told me that the guy who manages it gave him a free soda and also free drinks for his homeless friends that were with him. They started talking and Bryan explained that he was on the street for a week raising funds for outreach ministry and the guy donated some money on the spot!
The train station is couple blocks from the Salvation Army and so we walked up there and I got to meet the homeless friends that also go free drinks before. They were three people I had never met (remember I go to pass out water, food and clothes twice a week down by the Salvation Army). I found out that why I hadn't met them was because by the time I get downtown they are already inside the Salvation Army for the night. There was a taller gentleman who had a on a black stocking hat, a trench coat and dark sunglasses. His beard was trimmed short and his voice was strong and confident. Bryan said he looks like a movie star but he can't remember which one...so I know him as Hollywood (I think Bryan calls him Movie Star, his actual name is Dirk Buck who was a steel worker that lost his job up in Clinton, AR). The second guy was a special forces veteran who was also very clean, he wore a bright red stocking hat and a teal jacket. Bryan calls him Army Guy (his name is actually Jadon Langston and he is a certified welder). With them was a woman named Tracy who I found out was several months pregnant. They asked if we wanted to go get some coffee and just talk.
That sounded like a good idea so we started to walk towards the River Market, by now it was around 3pm and this will end part 2 of my story. I have been homeless for about 15 hours and it has been a new experience filled with a lot of eating, a lot of walking, a lot of drug deals and a few new friends. I will write the next piece soon.
One thing people assume is that homeless people would not have cell phones. The vast majority of them (at least in Little Rock) do in fact have cell phones, so us wanting to charge our phones was not too out of the ordinary. Bryan told me that the day before he had been kicked out of the River Market because he didn't buy anything and they wanted the seats for "paying customers." Now since we had just eaten a big breakfast at the Salvation Army and the River Market is not much more than a mile away we were still full after the walk over. Bryan didn't bring any money with him for his week on the street...I brought a few dollars with me. I bought us coffee and we sat in the middle of the River Market and charged our phones. Security started to walk over to talk to us and then he saw our coffee and literally turned around and walked away. I didn't feel welcome and none of the customers would make eye contact with us (except the homeless people who were all sitting next to each other about ten feet away from us).
Our phones were now charged and it was now time to start walking again. The Stew Pot was not really that close to the River Market so we started walking. As we walked we talked about the buildings and abandoned run-down houses that would be awesome to turn into transitional housing or a shelter. I was surprised at the amount of abandoned buildings...I'm not sure why I was surprised. I guess there were just parts of Little Rock I had never been to before or at least never noticed when I was driving. A city is different on foot.
We got to the Stew Pot and I found out it is inside an First Presbyterian Church. There were a handful of people sitting on the steps waiting for lunchtime to arrive. Bryan and I went and sat on a small ledge and watched as more and more homeless people arrived. While we were sitting there Bryan pulled his phone out and sent a text to someone. A gentleman saw his phone and walked up to us. He asked if Bryan had his charger with him. Bryan said yes as the man pulled his phone out of his pocket. He told us a story about how his phone is a "government" phone (there is some sort of plan that supplies the homeless with free phones, they are pay by the minute phones) and his charger had fallen apart as he was plugging it in while he was at work. He asked Bryan if he would charge it for him and Bryan agreed. He then handed the phone to Bryan and walked away. That struck me as odd...that he would just give a stranger his phone and walk away. There is an interesting community view that the homeless seem to share that I don't really understand yet.
As we were sitting there waiting to go in I saw some dirty looks and heard a couple people make comments about us being cops. Also there was some sort of gang dynamic that I didn't understand (Bryan was a gang member when he was younger...and I guess that is something that is always with you to some extent. I don't know.) So needless to say it was fairly uncomfortable for both of us so I was thankful when they opened the door to let us inside. We walked up two stories to where the lunch was served.
I got into a conversation with the guy that was in line in front of me about how cold it was outside. He was wearing a cammo army uniform all the way down to the boots. He had a metal cane and gloves that had the fingers cut off. I never asked him if he was actually a veteran (he was younger than me...but that doesn't mean anything) or if he just had the clothes. He told me he was warm except for his nose, which he explained had been broken recently. He then pulled it totally over to the side giving himself a small nose bleed and he said he got nose bleeds all the time. He explained that he would have to have surgery and that the cold bothered his nose but the rest of his body was fine. He told me about the 5 or 6 layers of clothes he had on at that very moment. Then we were next to get our food.
I thanked the ladies who were serving us lunch and they seemed to be shocked that I would thank them! One of them said, "You're VERY welcome and have a merry Christmas!" I guess they don't get a lot of thank you's because it is a daily service that they perform. I don't know, I just found it odd. Bryan and I finished our breakfast and the guy came back to see if Bryan was charging his phone. Bryan told him he couldn't find an outlet and the guy said he didn't see one either. He gave the phone back and and the guy walked away.
The lunch they served was again a really large lunch which included salad, chicken noodle soup, bread, coffee, pudding and dessert which was our choice of assorted donuts, bread-pudding or cake. After lunch we walked outside and started to head to the Arkansas Dream Center (which was several miles away). Before we got off the church's property I saw two drug deals. I will talk about the drug deals and other things in a later post, but for now I am going to go on with our day.
We walked across town to the Arkansas Dream Center. We got only to find it empty. Apparently we were too early. It is staffed by volunteers who are college students and they were not back yet, so we turned around and walked away. Bryan wanted to show me the tent city that he had found up in the woods by the capital so we started walking.
We got there and he showed me Billy's tent. Billy is an alcoholic that used to have his tent in the woods in a different location but people kept stealing his stuff when he would leave. He is on 12 medications (which is not a good mix with the booze) and recently had his pills stolen. Two days before Bryan had walked 20+ blocks to the pharmacy to fill his prescription for him after his pills were taken. The day before I arrived Bryan moved Billy to a new location where no one would know where he was. That way his stuff would at least be safer...for now.
We followed a path down the side of a hill behind Billy's tent and came into what used to be a tent city! It was about 25 campsites that were now almost all empty. Homeless people had made a community here at one time and then they had moved on. Bryan told me a story he had heard about that tent city. During the summer most of the empty spots were full. One gentleman would go down to the river and fish all day. At night he would come up and cook fish on an open fire for everyone who was staying in their tent city. Now I know he was homeless and without a job...so he didn't have a lot of other things to do, but that is still pretty impressive. He was doing things for those around him knowing that all he would get back was a thank you. That is not something that you see a lot out of people. Just think about the last time you spent 8 hours of your time doing something for someone who you are not related to that could do nothing for you in return. Just a side thought...but think about it...and now back to the story.
When we made it through the abandoned tent city we walked down to the train tracks. We followed the tracks up to the train station and Bryan told me another story. There is an events center that you can rent for receptions, parties...etc. on the bottom floor of the train station that I had never seen. Bryan told me that the guy who manages it gave him a free soda and also free drinks for his homeless friends that were with him. They started talking and Bryan explained that he was on the street for a week raising funds for outreach ministry and the guy donated some money on the spot!
The train station is couple blocks from the Salvation Army and so we walked up there and I got to meet the homeless friends that also go free drinks before. They were three people I had never met (remember I go to pass out water, food and clothes twice a week down by the Salvation Army). I found out that why I hadn't met them was because by the time I get downtown they are already inside the Salvation Army for the night. There was a taller gentleman who had a on a black stocking hat, a trench coat and dark sunglasses. His beard was trimmed short and his voice was strong and confident. Bryan said he looks like a movie star but he can't remember which one...so I know him as Hollywood (I think Bryan calls him Movie Star, his actual name is Dirk Buck who was a steel worker that lost his job up in Clinton, AR). The second guy was a special forces veteran who was also very clean, he wore a bright red stocking hat and a teal jacket. Bryan calls him Army Guy (his name is actually Jadon Langston and he is a certified welder). With them was a woman named Tracy who I found out was several months pregnant. They asked if we wanted to go get some coffee and just talk.
That sounded like a good idea so we started to walk towards the River Market, by now it was around 3pm and this will end part 2 of my story. I have been homeless for about 15 hours and it has been a new experience filled with a lot of eating, a lot of walking, a lot of drug deals and a few new friends. I will write the next piece soon.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Life...The Way It Is (pt. 1)
This is the first part of at least a three part series of posts I will be writing over the next week or so.
As many of you know I was "homeless" for 48 hours. Bryan Walker is the outreach minister for Benton 1st Assembly. He stayed on the street for a week as a fundraiser for the outreach ministry there and I stayed with him for two days.
Channel 11 came down and did a report on what Bryan was doing.
This first post is going to be about my time down on the street. It all started with a text message on Wednesday night. I closing up the coffee shop at my church after service. It was from Bryan and he said that he was not downtown, he was in Benton at 1st Assembly. He said he had a 19 year old girl that he rescued from the street and that he wanted me to come over to 1st Assembly while they figured out what to do in regards to this girl.
When I got over there he explained the situation. This girl had shown up and no one knew her. She said she lived on the streets and she was from Little Rock. She said her parents had died and now the street was her home. One of the homeless men had given her most of a bottle of vodka and she was REALLY drunk. Bryan called his mother (who had come down to visit him earlier) and she came and picked them up. The young lady threw up before she left the street and then she threw up again in the car on the way back to the church.
Something was not adding up with this girl. She wouldn't tell anyone exactly where she grew up or exactly where she lived. We asked for her birthday and she wouldn't say, but she kept saying she was 19...even when we didn't ask her how old she was. After some discussion we decided to call the cops. I called a friend of mine who is a state trooper and he called the Benton PD and had them send an officer over. The officer talked to Tara (that is the name of the young lady) and she told him her birthday. It ended up she was only 16, she was autistic and she was a runaway. The officer took her into custody and delivered her to juvenile services. That is how my time as a homeless man started...from there Bryan and I drove down to 3rd and Markham to stay the night.
When we got there it was already cold and dark. The police had kicked the homeless people off of the sidewalk where we were going to sleep and they had to move to a vacant parking lot behind a building. There isn't a huge difference between sleeping on a concrete sidewalk or an asphalt parking lot, so we got our "beds" ready and laid down. I had a sleeping bag (I forgot a pillow) and Bryan had a large comforter that would go over both of our sleeping bags to keep the wind out. So I was next to Bryan and about 5 feet away there was a stack of blankets and sleeping bags at least as high as a normal mattress would have been. On this mound of bedding were three homeless people. One older gentleman (we call him Pops), a woman (who I found out is a crack addict prostitute) and a middle aged gentleman (who was also a crack addict).
As we started to settle in for the night and the conversation started to slow down they started singing. Yes, I was serenaded by three homeless people. They sang a wide range of country music, old gospel and some blues. The only problem was that they didn't know any of the songs all the way through. You would get about one verse and maybe the chorus and then it would be time for another song. That went on until about 2:30am or so and I started to fade in and out of sleep. I found out in the morning that part of the discomfort I felt while laying there was because I had a tennis ball sized piece of asphalt under my back! I didn't see it when I laid my sleeping bag down because it was already dark when I got there. I also couldn't move to one side or the other due to the comforter situation (if I moved away I would be out from under it and and closer and I would be cuddled with Bryan...which neither of us wanted.)
Around 5am I was jolted awake by a man shaking both Bryan and myself. He was asking to use one of our phones. He said he needed to let someone know where to bring his truck. Bryan let him use his phone and the guy told someone to come down to the "Sally" which is what they call the Salvation Army. He thanked Bryan and walked away. Later Bryan told me that he was actually setting up a drug deal.
After the rude awakening I didn't sleep very well, which was probably for the best. I needed to be up around 6:30am to go get in line for breakfast at the Salvation Army.
The sun wasn't up yet and it was really cold when I got out of my sleeping bag. Bryan got up too and he folded up his sleeping bag and the comforter. I took the sleeping bag my roommate had loaned me and put it in the trunk of my car and Bryan left his bedding in a stack with all of the bedding of the homeless people who had sang us to sleep the night before. Now it was time for breakfast!
We got in line at the side door of the Salvation Army. The door opened just after 7am and we walked in. You have to sign in as you enter and the line goes two different directions. One line for coffee and then you turn around and go find the end of the other line for the food. I got coffee out of the big cooler and got in the food line. I looked at the breakfast (the people who were in the front of the line were already sitting down and eating). It was a donut, scrambled eggs with sausage mixed in, a hard boiled egg, rice a banana and a cup of apple juice. Since I don't eat eggs I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I didn't want to waste any food...but no one was customizing their orders in the food line. You picked up your tray and you sat down.
There were not two empty seats next to each other so Bryan sat at one table and I sat at another table. I offered my eggs to a woman next to me when I had eaten everything else and she gladly accepted. Just before I got up to go a woman walked in the door. She had a clip-board in her hand and she started talking over the crowd noise. She said that once again this year they were going to rent hotel rooms for anyone who was NOT getting a check for Christmas so that they wouldn't have to sleep on the street. She said if you were getting a check she would find out about it and take you off the list! Also she said that you couldn't bring your girlfriend into your hotel room to stay the night! She said it was a Christian company that was based on Christian values and if you wanted to "shack up" with your girl you could rent your own room!
At that it was time for us to go, so Bryan and I walked outside.
That was my first 8 hours as a homeless man...I will pick up the story in part two.
As many of you know I was "homeless" for 48 hours. Bryan Walker is the outreach minister for Benton 1st Assembly. He stayed on the street for a week as a fundraiser for the outreach ministry there and I stayed with him for two days.
Channel 11 came down and did a report on what Bryan was doing.
This first post is going to be about my time down on the street. It all started with a text message on Wednesday night. I closing up the coffee shop at my church after service. It was from Bryan and he said that he was not downtown, he was in Benton at 1st Assembly. He said he had a 19 year old girl that he rescued from the street and that he wanted me to come over to 1st Assembly while they figured out what to do in regards to this girl.
When I got over there he explained the situation. This girl had shown up and no one knew her. She said she lived on the streets and she was from Little Rock. She said her parents had died and now the street was her home. One of the homeless men had given her most of a bottle of vodka and she was REALLY drunk. Bryan called his mother (who had come down to visit him earlier) and she came and picked them up. The young lady threw up before she left the street and then she threw up again in the car on the way back to the church.
Something was not adding up with this girl. She wouldn't tell anyone exactly where she grew up or exactly where she lived. We asked for her birthday and she wouldn't say, but she kept saying she was 19...even when we didn't ask her how old she was. After some discussion we decided to call the cops. I called a friend of mine who is a state trooper and he called the Benton PD and had them send an officer over. The officer talked to Tara (that is the name of the young lady) and she told him her birthday. It ended up she was only 16, she was autistic and she was a runaway. The officer took her into custody and delivered her to juvenile services. That is how my time as a homeless man started...from there Bryan and I drove down to 3rd and Markham to stay the night.
When we got there it was already cold and dark. The police had kicked the homeless people off of the sidewalk where we were going to sleep and they had to move to a vacant parking lot behind a building. There isn't a huge difference between sleeping on a concrete sidewalk or an asphalt parking lot, so we got our "beds" ready and laid down. I had a sleeping bag (I forgot a pillow) and Bryan had a large comforter that would go over both of our sleeping bags to keep the wind out. So I was next to Bryan and about 5 feet away there was a stack of blankets and sleeping bags at least as high as a normal mattress would have been. On this mound of bedding were three homeless people. One older gentleman (we call him Pops), a woman (who I found out is a crack addict prostitute) and a middle aged gentleman (who was also a crack addict).
As we started to settle in for the night and the conversation started to slow down they started singing. Yes, I was serenaded by three homeless people. They sang a wide range of country music, old gospel and some blues. The only problem was that they didn't know any of the songs all the way through. You would get about one verse and maybe the chorus and then it would be time for another song. That went on until about 2:30am or so and I started to fade in and out of sleep. I found out in the morning that part of the discomfort I felt while laying there was because I had a tennis ball sized piece of asphalt under my back! I didn't see it when I laid my sleeping bag down because it was already dark when I got there. I also couldn't move to one side or the other due to the comforter situation (if I moved away I would be out from under it and and closer and I would be cuddled with Bryan...which neither of us wanted.)
Around 5am I was jolted awake by a man shaking both Bryan and myself. He was asking to use one of our phones. He said he needed to let someone know where to bring his truck. Bryan let him use his phone and the guy told someone to come down to the "Sally" which is what they call the Salvation Army. He thanked Bryan and walked away. Later Bryan told me that he was actually setting up a drug deal.
After the rude awakening I didn't sleep very well, which was probably for the best. I needed to be up around 6:30am to go get in line for breakfast at the Salvation Army.
The sun wasn't up yet and it was really cold when I got out of my sleeping bag. Bryan got up too and he folded up his sleeping bag and the comforter. I took the sleeping bag my roommate had loaned me and put it in the trunk of my car and Bryan left his bedding in a stack with all of the bedding of the homeless people who had sang us to sleep the night before. Now it was time for breakfast!
We got in line at the side door of the Salvation Army. The door opened just after 7am and we walked in. You have to sign in as you enter and the line goes two different directions. One line for coffee and then you turn around and go find the end of the other line for the food. I got coffee out of the big cooler and got in the food line. I looked at the breakfast (the people who were in the front of the line were already sitting down and eating). It was a donut, scrambled eggs with sausage mixed in, a hard boiled egg, rice a banana and a cup of apple juice. Since I don't eat eggs I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I didn't want to waste any food...but no one was customizing their orders in the food line. You picked up your tray and you sat down.
There were not two empty seats next to each other so Bryan sat at one table and I sat at another table. I offered my eggs to a woman next to me when I had eaten everything else and she gladly accepted. Just before I got up to go a woman walked in the door. She had a clip-board in her hand and she started talking over the crowd noise. She said that once again this year they were going to rent hotel rooms for anyone who was NOT getting a check for Christmas so that they wouldn't have to sleep on the street. She said if you were getting a check she would find out about it and take you off the list! Also she said that you couldn't bring your girlfriend into your hotel room to stay the night! She said it was a Christian company that was based on Christian values and if you wanted to "shack up" with your girl you could rent your own room!
At that it was time for us to go, so Bryan and I walked outside.
That was my first 8 hours as a homeless man...I will pick up the story in part two.
Monday, November 8, 2010
My birthday wish...
A few months ago I started talking about things that I would like to see happen. I discussed the fact that I would like to help more people. I have taken some time off from writing and now I think it is time to start up again. In 3 weeks it will be my birthday. I know that most of you who read this and most of the people on my facebook (where I will post this as a note and a link) were not planning on getting me any presents. I am aware that we reserve gift giving for some family members and our closest friends. That is fine, I understand that fact and I am in no way asking you to give ME a present. I don't need anything right now. I am not going without anything that falls into the "need" category.
Some of the people who started to read this already stopped and won't find out what it is that I am asking. I know that people have a short attention span...so I will just talk to those of you who are still reading. In a previous blog I mentioned the fact that I was going to find a charity that I could believe in and have anyone who wanted to do something for my birthday to donate to that charity. I did my research.
I found some CRAZY stats on the lack of clean water in the world. I know that I can not change the living conditions of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation. I also know that I can not save the three children that have died from water related diseases since you started reading this post. What I can do is what I will do. I will do my best to educate people, donate what I can and give others the opportunity to do the same.
Here is my birthday wish:
I want everyone who reads this post to donate $1.00 to help people get clean water.
DONATE $1.00
If you click on that link and give $1.00. That is my birthday wish.
Now for my part. For everyone person wishes me happy birthday either on here or on my facebook between now and my birthday I will donate $1.00 to The Water Project myself. Now I know that I will have a decent amount of people who will wish me happy birthday so I won't be able to donate the entire amount on day one...but I will do it. If you want to know how the donations are going you can email me, leave a comment here or send me a message on my facebook and I will let you know the status of my birthday donation.
I'm not doing this because I am really worried about what you will think of me...I want people to live. This is one way I can help, it may be a small way...but it is what I can do at the moment. Please don't forget to click on the link and donate $1.00.
Thank you all. Remember to look around you today and see if there is someone who needs help. Reach out while you can.
Some of the people who started to read this already stopped and won't find out what it is that I am asking. I know that people have a short attention span...so I will just talk to those of you who are still reading. In a previous blog I mentioned the fact that I was going to find a charity that I could believe in and have anyone who wanted to do something for my birthday to donate to that charity. I did my research.
I found some CRAZY stats on the lack of clean water in the world. I know that I can not change the living conditions of the 2.5 billion people who don't have access to proper sanitation. I also know that I can not save the three children that have died from water related diseases since you started reading this post. What I can do is what I will do. I will do my best to educate people, donate what I can and give others the opportunity to do the same.
Here is my birthday wish:
I want everyone who reads this post to donate $1.00 to help people get clean water.
DONATE $1.00
If you click on that link and give $1.00. That is my birthday wish.
Now for my part. For everyone person wishes me happy birthday either on here or on my facebook between now and my birthday I will donate $1.00 to The Water Project myself. Now I know that I will have a decent amount of people who will wish me happy birthday so I won't be able to donate the entire amount on day one...but I will do it. If you want to know how the donations are going you can email me, leave a comment here or send me a message on my facebook and I will let you know the status of my birthday donation.
I'm not doing this because I am really worried about what you will think of me...I want people to live. This is one way I can help, it may be a small way...but it is what I can do at the moment. Please don't forget to click on the link and donate $1.00.
Thank you all. Remember to look around you today and see if there is someone who needs help. Reach out while you can.
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