We got to Eugene early one evening only to discover that God,
once again, had given us a wonderful CHEAP hotel with two, yes I said TWO
bedrooms, clean and decent. Just around the corner from the hotel as we came in
we saw homeless under the bridges. Boy I
got excited. (I guess most people
wouldn’t be excited about their hotel being just around the corner from the
local homeless population, but well . . . you know.)
Eugene ended up being a “stopover” for us because we’d sent
email after email with letters of
reference for weeks and either didn’t receive a response or got a “no” you
can’t stay here and/or “no” you can’t speak or serve here BUT GOD still had
plans for us to see homeless there. I have
to say that since I listen to the Holy Spirit to lead me and people say “no”
but God says “yes”, I still go.
The next morning, we got up after sleeping in a bit, (we
were so tired and Kathy was so sick.)
Once we loaded up and started out of town, we started looking for the
homeless. BUT GOD had me drive by a
small, but nice park right under two freeways.
I saw groups of homeless, so I stopped.
The first group was two guys and a girl so I got some peanut butter
crackers and some Bibles and headed across the street to talk with them. You never know what you’re going to get when
you walk up to somebody, sweet grapes or sour grapes, I still just go…
They received me well.
All of them really loved it in Eugene.
They said it was kind of a hippie town and laid back. I spoke to the girl for a while. She is from California. She’d left Eugene and went home to California
but just had to come back. She said it
was easier to be homeless in Eugene than it was in California. The other two guys were born and raised in
Eugene.
Drugs were the problem for all
three of them. One guy loved heroine but
they ALL loved pot, and I’m not kiddin’.
The one who loved heroine pulled out a BIG zip lock bag and they started
rolling joints. I knew it was time for
me to leave because they were firing them up, and I wanted no part of it. I managed to stay out of trouble for 57 years
and wasn’t about to get into it by association and the Holy Spirit pulled me
away.
I got back in the car and drove to the other side of the
park. I saw a pleasant looking older guy
so I got my standard crackers and Bible and set out to talk to him. What a pleasant person he was.
You know when you see those people oozing the
Lord? Paul was that guy. He glowed from ear to ear. He said “Sit down, let’s talk.” As he was eating his peanut butter crackers I
started talking to him about what I was doing and why I came to talk to
him.
Of course I started to ask my
famous question “Why are you homeless?”
He said “my
unemployment money ran out 16 months ago but I’ve been unemployed since 2007”
so he just sleeps on the street. He had
a Safeway shopping cart full of his clothes and his foam mattress and blankets. He also had two little Chihuahuas. He sure does love them. He told me he doesn’t trust anyone on the
streets and the only thing he really loves are these two male Chihuahuas.
It was an exceptionally happy day for Paul today because at
5 p.m. a man who had a bike with a custom made trailer behind it was getting
rid of it and was going to give it to him so he could get rid of his basket and
have a place for his puppies to ride on with him and to keep his stuff more
secure. He said he kept to himself all
the time because he didn’t want any trouble from anyone.
He said Jefferson Park was the right park for me to come to
as there were all kinds of homeless there.
He said this was a big park and on the other side of the bridge was
where all the “meanness”
was and “do NOT go there.” I prayed with him for peace as he really
already had it, but just wanted it to be confirmed and he wanted plenty of food
for his puppies. He said that he had
everything he needed because God was in his life, and he was happy. About that time a friend of his came up to
the picnic table by the name of Todd.
I found out that Todd was the real reason I was in Eugene for.
Todd had spent his life in and out of trouble and wound up in prison at an early
age. It’s sad that at such a young age
you can’t leave drugs and alcohol alone and steal to get money for those
habits. I had a real connection with him.
He was seeking answers.
He’s only 45 and still doesn’t know for sure his
journey. He loves the Lord and knows
He’s the Way but still needs guidance. Todd
was released from prison 8 years ago.
Initially his parents helped him, but he relapsed and they washed their
hands of him. He wants so badly to get
reconnected with his family, but he just can’t get clean.
I prayed with him for direction and for help to get out of his
current situation. And I prayed for him
to be reunited with his family. I think sometimes it’s easy to judge, both
sides of the fence. Easy to judge the
homeless, easy to judge their families.
But really, we can’t judge any of them.
Just love them.
-Sammie
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