Footsteps - 08/09/2011

This week's outreach was more different from the previous three weeks.

this one was kind of tough.

in weeks past. we'd donate clothes/food to a homeless shelter, distribute socks/underwear, prayer for the person and that would be it in a nutshell.

this week I was joined by Anthony King and his roommate Chris Kolnicky.

Chris has done some homeless outreaches before in Gainesville and Anthony really has the heart for the homeless.

Chris gave me the advice to really get to know the people.

Hemming Plaza in downtown Jacksonville is known for having homeless people about.

In weeks prior we'd distribute items in a fashion that left us finished in less than an hour.

this week however, the strategy was not to initially hit Hemming plaza but try to approach the homeless on more of a one-on-one basis versus clusters.

Anthony, Chris, and I walked around the plaza and were going to hit the next block when we saw one gentleman sitting on a bench eating chips. next to him were some bags. he was sitting on the far end of the park alone.

the spirit stopped me dead in my tracks and I knew this man was the one to talk to.

[ ironically before we spoke with him Chris mentioned how some homeless know the scriptures of the bible in and out. ]

his name: Brian, he was down in Florida after coming from up north. shelter, after shelter, after shelter.
his story: some prison time... some betrayal... family rejection... yet he still believes in God.

however, his views/judgments have become so distorted that his heart is calloused.

he sees life "glass half empty"

Anthony, Chris, and I spoke with this man for over an hour.

it took everything we knew about God and the bible to encourage this man... to the point where we eventually had to shake hands and say goodbye with a feeling of dispair for him.

He wouldn't let us pray for him, because he "didn't want to be prayed for outdoors".

His requests: shelter, job, improved health.

I asked him what his goal/dream in life would be ......


.......... his answer just rips me apart even now.

...after piercing his eyes to think about it for a second,

he said that his goal/dream in life would be

to have a euthenasia clinic to where people who feel

 that they are unproductive to society can simply come in and call it quits.

that's seriously one of the saddest things

I have ever heard in my entire life.

It's really too heartbreaking to say more about this man.
He's hanging on to hope by a thread.

by the time our conversation wrapped up, it was already past 8pm.

we intended to go to a men's bible study meeting at Sanfilippo's house at 730

we knew we'd be late and proceeded to head back to the car.

Chris brought shoes with him and I had 8 pair of socks.

Chris was on a desperate search to find someone to pass the shoes out to.

I noticed a dude who literally had one shoe on sitting with some guys at a park table.

the other foot had a dirty wet sock on it.

Chris gave him the shoes and I gave him 2 pairs of socks.

When asked why he had on only one shoe the man replied,

"they were messing with me and took my shoe"

Chris talked to him for a bit, I passed out more socks to guys around the table (it rained today so some of them had soggy socks), and Anthony got into a conversation with a man named we'll call K.

K was a recovered drug addict and lifetime diabetic.

he was filled with the word and had insight about life on the streets, how his life was turned around, and encouraged us to keep doing what we were doing.

In his words, "sometimes a simple conversation is more than you know".