Monday, March 5, 2007

One Church

God tells me to be one with my spiritual family. It is hard yet wonderful. A while back, on a Tuesday night (1-16-07), I went to the streets of Dallas to see if George would let me spend the night at his place, the street. I was walking with him to get cardboard when I asked him in an awkward way. He asked if it was to experience homelessness? I told him it was because God wants his church to be one with each other.
There is no peace on the street, or in some homes for that matter. That night I dealt with fear of getting my stuff taken or being hurt myself. I doubted God and if I could even hear his voice. What am I doing here? Hopelessness. People talking to eachother, smoking, cussing about the cold. People passing through, no respect for sleep. Early, like at 9pm a van drove up yelling, looking for people who wanted to do rehab; no takers. One time a guy drove up to give us a bag full of hamburgers. The guy that was yelling about the cold was placated by people giving out hot chocolate and bread at 11pm. George laughed at me for having a pillow; he sleeps sitting against a wall. He spent a while praying while standing up across the street. He was also looking out for another guy. I finally got to sleep after 2am. I woke up at 4:45am to the noise of freezing rain. I jumped up and started to collect my stuff. Immediately, the man sitting next to me started telling me about a white girl he had in a hotel room. I said, "I'm not interested." He continued by saying it was for him not me but then offering again and again. I kept saying the same three words. Then he asked, "Do you need anything?," which means drugs. I said "no". He said "You don't mess around with anything, do you? How long have you been out here?" I told him I wasn't homeless, I was just hanging out with George. He asked if I was just checking up on him or seeing if he was ok or something. I said, "No, I'm just hanging out with George." I jumped in my luxurious economy car and drove home, then to work after an hour nap. The snow was sticking.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're a lot more radical than I am.....

Anonymous said...

Wow! Good on you Ben.

Ben said...

Not me, Jesus is the only good one!

Anonymous said...

Ben, you have taken solidarity with our homeless brothers to a whole new level. I know George must have been encouraged.