Blessed are the poor in spirit....

Not many people know... and some even act surprised... when they find out that I once opened my home to a lady who was homeless on the streets of downtown Pensacola, Fl. Just recently someone heard that I had done this and was shocked. Confused, I wondered... "I thought this was what everyone would do if they could."

The experience was a life-changing one. I set out to help her... help her get a job, to find her love for the Lord again, and clear her name with the police. But she helped me. Helped me see that life and the problems that come aren't as easily recovered from as our formulas or government programs say they should be. Although we idealists like to see it as such, it's really not. Here in the West, in our individualistic mindset, we compartmentalize so many things, and people for that matter. But there's something so simple and unique about the friends I made on the streets.

It all began one weekend in the fall, I had just returned from a summer in Michigan volunteering on the weekends with an outreach called "Adopt-A-Block". I wanted to share something like this with those in Florida. So, every Saturday for 2 years, 10 of my friends and I would go down to the place under the interstate... with home-cooked meals (good meals) made from the money we'd all put together.

That first Saturday a good 150-200 homeless people showed up to the downtown park where we first decided to meet. We made fliers the previous week inviting everyone we saw on the streets who needed a meal...  the word spread quickly. The police came out because the downtown store owners complained that there were so many homeless people in their park... afraid they would cause the businesses money. So, the following Saturday we moved to a place under the interstate. We would sit out there for a good 3-4 hours every Saturday, just getting to know everyone... intently listening to their stories and sharing in their laughter, and their tears. Oftentimes the guys would take the men that stayed around out to play paint-ball or go see a movie and have dinner, and the ladies would reach out to the other ladies, through bringing them home with us for the evening, finding clothes for them and a good pair of shoes.

As time went on, so many amazing relationships were forged. And in their eyes I could see hope and that simple faith, that no matter how bad things got for them, they knew with every part of their being, that God was there for them. That He would protect and care for them.Many of the men decided they were going to return to the families they had left and begin building relationships with their children and wife that they had been running from for so many years. It wasn't easy, but they resolved to know that their strength came from Christ alone and He was nudging them to reconcile and love their families.

Many of the homeless that came out to the interstate started sharing with us that there were others, those who never ventured out, who they wanted us to meet. So, the guys in our group went first, and found a whole community living in tents down on the bay- in a little place nestled away from everything. Nearly everyone was addicted to drugs and alcohol. They lived on the water, in tents, caring for one another and tending to their addictions. We would go down there on Sundays to visit with them and share a meal with them. Many weekends when we weren't studying for our college exams, we would go down and spend the night on the beach with them, have bonfires, catch fish in the bay and have fish fries with them. I remember one night it was so incredibly cold, I tried to sleep, and I think I did for a bit, but when I woke up my body was so tense from shivering trying to keep warm. There was one man down there I'll never forget. His name was Pineapple... well, that's what everyone called him because he was from Hawaii and ended up in Pensacola after his time in the military. Everyone said he would never change. That he would be down there the rest of his life....

(to be continued)...

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ~Matthew 5:3