Kai, Earl, Donna and Linda, Robert...all people who God used to teach me a little about life

It was Friday night and and I was standing in UN square in San Francisco trying to keep warm. I was with a group of people from New Hope church, and we were meeting up with others from around the area for Night Strike, a bi-weekly event put on by City Ministries to feed and pray for the homeless. I had only done something remotely like this before many years ago in Oakland. I went with a group from Valley Bible Church (before I lived with Tim and attended VBC) to City Teams to help with passing out food. There was a service in the City Teams building, then a cafeteria type setting the next room over. After helping out with food, we went outside and hung out with the homeless who were there. Back then, sorry to say, I was uncomfortable around these people and didn't know quite what to say. But that was many years ago, and here I was stepping out of my comfortable bubble, not really knowing what to expect. (In life I have learned to not expect anything in particular, because it always turns out differently than I would have thought, but only to expect that God will move and it will be a grand experience).


We had a worship session outside and then broke off into groups. Ours was led by Kate, and consisted of about eight people. So off we went into the dark sidewalks of the Tenderloin. To be honest I was a little nervous, partially about praying for people I didn't know, and partially about safety (we did have a few homeless people warn us about the crazies out there). We ran into a lot of people that night, and most were extremely grateful for us being out there. One of the first guys we ran into was super nice and encouraging. In his experiences on the streets, he saw that no one really cared about the homeless. But the City Ministries presence was known and stood out. He said it was a real blessing.


We got so much positive feedback in the short amount of time we were out there. Two ladies, Donna and Linda walked by us as we were passing out food. They then turned around and as we offered them food we started talking. They were so encouraged by our smiling faces and that we were out there serving them. These ladies were going through some tough times (I can't even imagine being homeless in a crime ridden area) and the girls on our team prayed for them. I could tell that their night was a little better because they saw God's love in action. We ran into a family with a baby girl and they were trying to find a place to sleep for the night (keep in mind it was about 11pm). We ran into people who asked for prayer and others who prayed for us. The longer we were out there the more comfortable I became, still watching out of course, and the more my heart grew for those on the streets.


We ran into a lot of brokenness, a lot of hurt, and a lot of hope. I could tell something inside of me had changed. I'm not quite sure what it was, but I now had a greater perspective, and a lot of my "assumptions" about the homeless were proven wrong by interactions with real people who I learned a lot from. I want to go back, and hopefully I can run into some of the same people I saw and maybe start to build some friendships. Now there are names to those on the streets and they are not something I can turn my head and ignore. I have a lot of growing to do in my faith, and I see this ministry as an opportunity to do so. Every other Friday City Ministries is out there, feeding and praying for downtrodden, the lost, and the hopeful, and I plan to join them as often as I can.