Lenny and Sara's Tent

Sara in her mid twenties, has been homeless for about six months now, has depression and anxiety issues, is a cutter, originally from the upper midwest. And Lenny is around the same age, I believe he's from southern CA originally, has a bachelor's degree in accounting, is very personable, but said in a previous [intoxicated] conversation that he doesn't like the 'responsible' life, and this week got out of jail after a three-ish week sentence.

Sara and Lenny along with a handful of other folks live in an encampment near a river or resoviour which is normally a safe and comfortable place in the grand scheme of things. But with all the rain we've been having the river rose 20 feet and washed away their tent and all their belongings. I found this out on Wednesday and Sara was pretty sure they'd figure it out and be fine. They'd stay in the shelter Wednesday night and during the day Thursday to get dry. Then start figuring things out. I gave them my umbrella so they at least wouldn't get too much more wet on the walk to and from the bus.

I was really surprised to see them on Thursday at the lunch since I thought they'd be at the shelter, but apparently Lenny won't stay in the shelter because it was too much like prison for him. So instead they rode the bus until they stopped running at 1am then tried to find shelter and got back on the bus when they started running again at 4am. Needless to say by the time they arrived at the church they'd barely slept and were pooped. They both sat down at the tables and slept heads down on the table before lunch began. Sara had asked me if I knew anyone with a tent. The condition didn't really matter, just something. She described the last tent to me and it's duct taped patches and jerry-rigged tarp... it sounded pretty pitiful. I decided that out of my descretionary fund I would get them a new tent.

I know I shouldn't play favorites, but with them I kind of do. I think they really have a chance to break the cycle and have so much potential, and perhaps they don't seem all that different from me in some ways... so I feel more inclined to help them... not that a tent will change their lives, but at least they can have a shelter.

I took Sara with me after lunch to go get the tent, Lenny wanted to stay back at the church with their stuff. I think it was nice for Sara to get to just have someone to relate to and talk with in a normal way. She was funny about the car ride, when I was cleaning off my passenger seat she chuckled a few times and said, "Wow... you're so normal... you eat breakfast in your car like the rest of us (I had a banana peel in the seat), and have mail on the floor... that's cool." and a little while later, "It's so nice, yet weird to be doing something so normal as riding in a car... It's just so normal... I miss my car, it's funny the things you miss that you never though you would, I told Lenny last night that I want to argue about drapes with him. He told me I was silly, but I told him I wanted to argue with him about something as mundane as the color of the drapes. Or be able to sit next to him on the couch and have some tea... I think that's the blessing of all of this is that now I appreciate so much more, and I know how to budget really well now. I can make just a few dollars stretch further than I ever thought I could."

I imagine I could learn a thing or two from her now about priorities and budgeting... I pray they can sleep a little sounder and drier tonight in their new shelter. What a blessing it is that I, on behalf of the church, can care for my neighbor in such concrete ways. Thanks be to God!

Rainy day fun

Rain in LA is often a novel diversion from the day in day out beautiful sunshine, but this week we've been inundated. On Monday it was nice to stay in and work from home under my warm blankets, delighting in the muted, pensive nature of the day. But Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the rain continued and after going to the church, I saw it from a different perspective.

On Wednesdays the Valley Rescue Mission comes in to serve a hot meal, and the sheer number of people who were soaked was crazy. So while I may enjoy the novelty of the rain under the covers on my dry cozy couch, people who I care about and have promised to serve are struggling with staying dry. Since I have no way to dry things or stop the rain I decided that what I could do was leave the building open since I was going to be around for another few hours.

While hanging out for a minute by the door as lunch was ending Larry commented on how we needed to clean out our gutters which would solve the dripping water from the overhang. Then offered to clean it right then if I had a ladder. Er, okay.... I'm getting better about letting people help, in the moment. And off I went for the ladder. Larry found quite an impressive amount of gunk in our gutters, most notably a Curious George hacky sack.

On my way to get the ladder I discovered that our roof was leaking in the narthex. Great... Larry also notice this when he carried the ladder back from cleaning out the gutters and said he'd check it out, he used to be a roofer after all. So in the rain he climbed up on the roof and determined that all we needed was some roofing tar to seal a few seams and we'd be good to go... that was a relief, I'd had momentary visions of need a new $15,000 roof, or something. While holding the ladder for Larry as he was climbing onto the roof, Vic another regular was sweeping the water off the sidewalk then trying to sweep a drainage ditch of sorts into the grass so the water would run off into the street rather than collect on the sidewalk. It was kind of comical to watch a dude in a poncho sweep the grass in the rain.

After the ladders had been put away we were again gathered in the doorway watching the rain, a power line about a half a block away put on a rather disturbing fireworks show and our power went out, then as I went in search of a number to call to report it power came back on so I stopped working my way through the automated system. Then a few minutes later there was another round of serious sparks and so Larry called 911 and the fire department came out. In the meantime I was cold and assumed everyone else was too so I decided that a round of hot cocoa was in order, so I put the water on to boil and served up an entire box cocoa. It felt kind of festive. It was nice just to have people hanging out talking about their football predictions, and what-not, in the dark. It reminded me of college when the power was out and we all hung out in the hallway together. These are the unexpected moments in my days that I love! And never underestimate the power of cocoa to fortify a person for the elements. It just might be magical...

Take 2

So yeah... it's been awhile... but making excuses and apologizing is annoying. Plain and simple it's time to give this blogging thing another go. Ministry in my world is just too much fun and craziness to keep to myself. And really I'm way too spacey to keep up with everyone individually so here we go again... Welcome back!