07/08/2026
I've been thinking about and praying for a woman that we served lunch to on the street. She's homeless, an addict and was just wandering around the neighborhood obviously under the influence of drugs. Walking back and forth, feet staggering, but going no where -- sadly, having no where to go. Invisible to most. What some don’t realize is that NO one has aspirations to be homeless or addicted. I cannot tell you how many folks over the years have said the same things to me.. “ I never thought I’d end up like this”.Boys and girls want to grow up to be super heros or princesses. What happens? Life. Bad luck, lack of sufficient parenting, job loss, lack of education, bad choices? Countless situations This homeless lady’s name is Rose. Like so many lost souls on the streets of the Hilltop, drugs have stolen her identity. Her face reflects the hard pavement she aimlessly travels. However, underneath her outward appearance I detected a heart as soft as her name - Rose. The days of wandering and the nights of finding rest amidst the sounds of gunshots, sirens, the company of addicts and rapists the only light in the darkness of the night for Rose is the overhead spotlight of police helicopters. Another night on the familiar streets where she survives ,she remains lost in her personal prison, guided only by her addiction that's produced more thorns than blossoms in her life. Rose and some of the folks we serve lunch need our help and our prayers. Drugs, poverty, abuse and the 'street' have stolen their lives. Seems like the longer they are out on the street and homeless- the longer they remain there. I've done outreach for a couple of decades on the west side . Nothing grand or news worthy or deserving of the title of " saint" or "hero", but, I can truly say that providing a healthy bagged lunch, a Thanksgiving meal, a pair of new socks , a caring conversation and a face to face prayer is a blessing. A blessing for all. And just one meal can multiply blessings through building relationships with those in need. I've witnessed holiness in the folks we served at the monthly dinners, the Community Cookouts, the 20 plus years I've coordinated the annual Thanksgiving day dinners and in those we presently serve weekly. I've seen beauty in the eyes of the homeless. I've admired the pure humbleness and sincere gratitude in the hearts of those the S.A.C.O. Take It To The Streets Team and I serve and I feel the pain that many on the fringe of society endure in their daily lives- all because for whatever reason, they don't have things as good as most of us do. There's so many "Rose's on the streets, so many lost souls withering away in the shadows of judgement and darkness. Their hope dying. Their darkness is during the night- and day. Let's pray for them and do what we can to bring the Light of The Son to them. Many of the people that we bring meals and essentials to have requested that we pray for them. Several times a week I am asked to pray for these men and women. Right there at the Camps and on the street as traffic speeds by. Let's not be so quick to judge. Let' think first with our hearts. Let's look first with eyes of faith. Let's act with kindness not condescension. After all, no matter the negative opinion of some, these folks are also God’s children. Please pray for Rose, and all the men, and women on the street and camps that they be safe and for those enslaved within the drug culture healed of their addictions, that they adopt the culture of life, that all are uplifted and rise from everything that's hindered them to blossom so they might live the life God desires for them. (Matthew 25:40 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me').
