There we were 2 Americans from the World Race and 3 Germans from an educational program riding in the back of a cargo truck; with the black tarp hanging over the wooden doors which you could barely see through the 1/2 inch opening. As the ride became rough hitting pot holes, slidling from side to side as the truck swung around sharp curves, and making immediate stops in traffic because in Medellin, Colombia people drive literally an inch apart. Through the silent night ride on the highways and under passes, I felt as if we were soldiers riding off to war ready for combat.
About 15 minutes later the truck made its stop off the side of the underpass with a 30ft wide stream running along the side. Once we hopped out of the back, my eyes pierced through the open field near the stream to only gaze at what I thought seemed to be unreal. There were over 200 homeless people scattered across the streets and underpass. Our host ministry Harry, along with the others that had sat in the front came around the side to form a circle to pray as we prepared ourselves for ministry through Agua Panela outreach. Pastor Douglas Calvano started serving Agua Panela con Pan (sugar water with bread) to the homeless, addicted and displaced in 1993. 20 years later, this ministry represents the heartbeat of City of Refuge and its commitment to serving those in greatest need.
So we were eagered to be part of this opportunity that the Lord had provided. But the realization of what was happening became so astonishing that I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. After praying we split into groups while one group stayed back serving the bread and water. Before I could even walk away with my group, Harry shouted “make sure you stay within eye distance of the truck because if not you will be mugged.” I glanced at my group as we all inhaled a deep breathe wondering what we got ourselves into.
While walking across the street into the open field where every step matter, you could glare in front, back, left or right and there would be someone lighting up marijuana, snorting crack, hallucinating, or having a seizure. Not only that but there were people trying to sleep and search for food. I felt like I was at a concert but the only difference was that these people were broken and lost. I vividly recall, two gentlemen so strung out on drugs that they were playing with imaginary dices and began arguing over the numbers that were rolled. Then a man was on the street dazing off into the night sky blowing a whistle continuously.
I had never felt such a dark force upon us that night until I looked at a women in her eyes and she began screaming furiously. My first insticnt was to pray for her but I remembered Harry stating that it’s not good for an individual to lay hands upon a person of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, my group were all men; so I decided to walk away but that didn’t stop this women from screaming. She followed us around for about 3 minutes until an addict approached her with a syringe needle that relaxed her. Another instance that caught my attention was the crowd of people lining up to receive water and bread. Majority of the individuals would grab the bread and reentered the line by disguising themselves in other clothing. After all the bread and water was served, they would begin to become violent with the groups.
Throughout the night, I kept encountering broken individuals after broken individuals asking God what are you showing me through this outreach? Right after we ended the outreach for the night, we gathered around to pray out. Surely enough, a man approached us in the midst of prayer questioning Harry about the outreach. As I stood off toward the back watching Harry pour life into this man, I asked God again what are you showing me tonight? Clear as a pin drop, I heard God say “watch whats about to happen.” I watched Harry become so passionate over a lost soul as the man wanted to come back with us to the foundation. There were 3 rules for that to happen. First, an individual can not be strung out on drugs. Second, the individual can not have drugs on them. Lastly, the individual can not have a weapon on them.
The man had complied with all the rules except he had a pipe on him with drugs in it. Harry asked him to get rid of his pipe and that he could stay the night at the foundation and be put into the program that following week. The man kept arguing with Harry until he told us all to get in the truck and that the gentleman was not coming with us. In that moment, the gentleman asked Harry for a cardboard box so that he could stay warm for the night. Harry walked to the man grabbed the pipe out of his hand and threw it on the ground. For the first time in my life, I heard God say “Grace detached from truth thus becomes destructive and damaging, rather than liberating and healing.” Harry showed what we would call “tough love” but rather it was “transformative grace” where Harry was willing both to support and challenge the man in need, and not allow him to be stuck in a culture of low expectations. Afterwards, the man climbed in the back of the cargo truck with us.
When heading back to the church/foundation I realized what God had just revealed to me. I had become a Christian that lived for my own righteousness and didn’t understand the meaning of a true burden for the homeless, the addicts, the broken hearted, and most importantly the lost.
How many times have you passed a homeless person on the street but never turned around to feed them?
How many times have I spoke to you saying go and serve my people?
How many times will you continue ignoring my people when I have equipped you to bring them home to me?
These questions began to erupt my spiritual walk with the Lord as I broke down crying. How could I’ve been so disobedient all these years.
I have seen the needs of the homeless, and I have witnessed the pitiful excuse of ‘I’ll pray for you” taking the place of real love so many many times. This poem speaks a great truth – perhaps a truth greater than many can handle. Yes! I’m even talking about myself, it was a hard pill to swallow when I began to ponder on it. How many Churches in America literally form soup kitchens, open shelters for homeless, or participate in activities of helping the homeless but only to find that they are glorifying themselves or have distant themselves from the homeless on a Sunday morning service? When was the last time a shelter was formed within the church for the homeless? I don’t mean a shelter only on cold nights where it’s below freezing but on every night of the week all seasons of the year. How many times as a Christian do we show Christ love to the homeless intentionally? How many times have we walked into a Sunday service where the pews are filled with every class system from those on the streets to those living in a fancy house?
Even in an age of preachers as celebrity, it is not the evolution of a Bling Bling Gospel that most disheartens me. It is the loss of the church’s heart and soul: the mission to seek and to save lost souls through the power of the Gospel and a risen savior. I’ve wondered why churches or pastors have seldom taken a stand or ventured beyond the doors of their sanctuaries to bring healing and hope to the community.
So many people ignore the homeless, partly because they believe there is little they can do to “fix” them. And they are absolutely right. In fact, it is not God’s intention that we “fix” them any more than it is His intention that they “fix” us.
Jesus tells us that we are one body in Christ. Everyone rich, poor, every race, every age has a legitimate role to play in that body. We may go to a homeless outreach with the intention of helping someone else, but ultimately, so much of Jesus’ teachings focus in on the need for transformation: for people to turn from self-centredness, retribution and an obsession with status and material comfort and instead embrace generosity, justice, simplicity and dependence on God.
In the person of Jesus, therefore, grace and truth are synthesised and cannot be separated. A great succinct example is in the two-sentences he says to the woman caught in adultery who had avoided being stoned to death: ‘Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin’ (John 8:11). The way of Jesus is neither easy acceptance nor narrow judgementalism – but a deeper call to transformation.
I could be wrong. My criticism might be too harsh. But it is no harsher than my pain.
I leave you with this bible verse to ponder on:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The king will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:35-40
