8/12/20
Our second week in Denver was my first real opportunity to encounter homeless people. It’s something those of us with a home don’t think about much, but, in this time of stay-at-home orders, what do you do if you don’t have a home to go to?
What I saw made me feel like Denver really tried to answer that question. They opened a big building called, I believe, Western National as extra sleeping quarters with hundreds and hundreds of cots as a shelter for men. If you’ve never been in a homeless shelter, I’ll tell you the sight can be a little overwhelming, especially if you truly stop to consider the lives being housed there. Because they matter. Those people matter so much more than words can ever express. They’re not bad people, they’re just people. People with stories, histories, lives, families, feelings, hopes, and dreams.
They’re people like me. Messed up and in need of a savior. I hope they know now or come to know later that they are worthy of Jesus’s love.
I didn’t get to talk to them much with that message. That wasn’t really the specific role I was needed in here. My team was here to support the men and women who work with Denver Rescue Mission, the group running this shelter and others, on a regular basis. They have places of need and serving food breakfast, lunch, and dinner is one of them. We had a breakfast shift one day and dinner shifts two other days.
I was here to serve food. To make sure these men get their physical needs met in order to be able to focus on the other needs they may have. I want those men to feel worthy and loved and if a plate of food can help with that then it’s worth it.
We also happened to be joining Denver Rescue Mission in this particular building at a very unsettled time. We didn’t know that until we got there, however. This shelter was shutting down. This was the last week meals would be offered. The night of our first shift, men were being relocated to other shelters as beds here weren’t going to be available anymore.
I think maybe they’re getting ready to open up the building for big events again as Covid leaves the focus of the world. I thought the closure was supposed to happen all at once, but when we came back for our dinner shifts the next days they still had open beds. Perhaps they didn’t have enough other spots as quickly as they thought. I’m not sure. I didn’t ask a lot of questions, though I was confused by the process. Understanding the politics of how these men were being taken care of wasn’t my place. I was there to serve food. I just had to trust God and the word of the volunteer coordinators working for Denver Rescue Mission that everything would be ok. I felt peace in the situation and in the not knowing.
The people we worked with were wonderful. Our first breakfast shift was just the 11 of us, but the other shifts we got to meet some of the people who regularly give their time serving at the shelter. Their hearts were clear. They had taken time to get to know the men living there. They knew faces and names and stories. I’m glad to know that serving food can shift into so much more than standing in a line to serve food. Which, it actually did for our two men who got the opportunity to bus tables and hear stories. Let me clarify that our first shift the coordinator we worked with us told us how Denver has different organizations that house men, women, and youth. They all at one point served everyone, but then realized working together to capitalize on their strengths was more efficient. Denver Rescue Mission had a strength for serving men, so that’s what they do and it works for this community. So, yes, I’m glad our men were able to go and spend just a small amount of time serving the men of the community while I helped them to have full bellies to listen and share and laugh together. After all, laughter is the best medicine.
But, anyway, the volunteers we worked with. They were honestly a mix of ages, though it was really cool to see several young people our age that we could work with and serve. You have to remember when you’re out in the mission field that the people you work with and live with are also people who need to be loved by Jesus. We as B Squad remind ourselves of that often. We live together and work together and it can be easy to forget to minister to one another if we’re not intentional. The people you live with is ALWAYS your first ministry field. Serve your family and community well. Love one another as you are loved and love yourselves. Ok, spiel over. Let’s move on.
There was a young man who has come there twice a week for a long time. He was sad to only get to work with us once because he enjoyed working with us as fellow Christians. He even told me that the reason some people don’t like things like coffee and cilantro is genetic and based on the fact that humans eat a lot of things that are actually poisonous to a lot of creatures. So, some people still have a genetic disposition to taste those things as poisonous and gross so we don’t eat them. It was an interesting and fun conversation. He’s the volunteer I talked with the most in our time. There was another girl working there that really built a relationship with Eva and Erica Jenkins and they went and had an evening of dinner together afterward. We may have been strangers when we met, but the relationship doesn’t end with the task you do together. That’s what being intentional in building relationships is all about. She was a fellow Christian who could really enjoy encouragement from the girls on our team. And there was also another girl who wasn’t a Christian. I think our group was a bit surprised to work with a volunteer who wasn’t Christian, though we obviously shouldn’t be. She was such a good and sweet person, from what I’ve been told because I didn’t talk to her much. But I did get to learn that she was from the Columbine community and volunteering for her began on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting, which to her community is an important day to memorialize with service. And from there it evolved into a regular thing she does. Serving others is innate in us regardless of whether we’re Christian and it was really cool to be able to maybe show her a new side of Christians. I hope she is encouraged to seek more of God because of working with Christians at Denver Rescue Mission.
I think that’s a word of encouragement to my Christian and even my non-Christian readers alike. Be intentional in building relationships no matter how short or long your season together is. You never know the seeds you can leave behind in one another’s lives. It doesn’t take much to brighten someone’s day. It doesn’t take much to encourage someone in a lasting and impactful manner that follows them into tomorrow. Loving people matters.
