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| A Tale of Two Bridges! July 21, 2014 |
As
Bill and I pull up to the last pavilion at the Bay Side Camp, the first
homeless person we notice is Mari. She
is sitting on a picnic table, one hand in the air, cheerfully waving at
us. They all readily recognize my pick-up
truck, especially every Sunday afternoons!
I quickly
acknowledge the others; Jersey and his wife Theresa, Kojak, John, Ron,
etc. Praise the Lord, there are also
about a half dozen new people waiting for us.
There are more homeless than usual today, as they are taking shelter under
the pavilion from the stormy weather and light rain.
But where
is Robert, Mari’s 21-year-old son? I’ll
have to ask her, to make sure he’s alright.
Today is
different – I brought them pizza instead of cheeseburgers to shake up their
routine a little. It’s a little
different than hamburgers (which are neat and packaged), as we have to cut the
pizza, hand out napkins on which to put their two slices, have them pick the
slices, all this in a windy environment.
Though I
know they are hungry, nobody rushes – all are polite and patient. Some only take one piece and come back later
for the second. Some wait until all are
served and then come up for their slice of pepperoni pizza. There is respect and dignity amongst each other…today.
There is
talking and sharing, telling of stories and catching up with the latest news…by
the way, where is Mari?
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| Mother Mari! |
I miss
Robert’s cheerful disposition – like a puppy beagle with his leash off!
“Mari.”
“Yea,
Jean-Luc”
If I just
call her name and look at her, she knows I have something on my mind to talk to
her about which she might not volunteer to tell me.
“Where is Robert?” I get a glimpse of the look only a concerned
mother can have.
“He’s in
jail,” as if it was normal for everyone here to take their turn at being in
jail.
“What???” Because it is not normal in my book that
anyone like Robert should be in jail. He
has gotten out of jail just three or four months ago.
“What did
he do?”
“Failure
to appear; if he had appeared, they probably would have thrown the charges out.”
“So why
couldn’t he appear?”
“He didn’t
want to.”
I could
imagine why, but I don’t go there.
Neither am I told what he had to appear for. One has to know when to stop asking
questions.
She
continues, “He should only be in overnight; he has court tomorrow. They should release him, though he could get
30-60 days. If he has this one judge, he’ll
get 90 days. She just doesn’t put up
with that.”
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| Robert, 21-year old son of Mari with dog, Hanna Montana! |
Most of
the homeless who have a phone have the jail phone number on their contacts list
– and all the different extensions. Most
can tell you the names of the deputies and the guards at the jail, visitation
times and any other details you may ask.
They can look up who was arrested and on what charges. They also know all the judge’s names!
I fed one
lady last week who was in our large city jail when it blew up last March. Many were wounded, two got killed and the
600-inmate jail was totally destroyed.
She was able to assist some who were buried in the rubble. But, that’s a whole other story. Later, maybe.
Now is not the time to ask such questions.
“Chris is
in jail, also. His car is left over
there,” as she points to it. She knew I
was going to ask why so she continued, “I don’t quite know why he’s in jail –
something about assault, maybe.”
Don’t
ask.
I greet John, whom I haven’t seen in a long
time ago. He took the bus back from
Arkansas and is glad to be back in Florida.
John attended ministry school for two years, here in Pensacola. It is a pleasure to share the Lord with him
and we fellowship for a while. He is a
unique homeless individual. I want to
ask him about ministry school, but maybe later.
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| John...the Baptist? Don't ask. |
Jersey
seems to be healing well from his accident and adventures from last week (see
blog from 7/13). His wife, Theresa, is
here. She works as a Nurse Assistant in
a nursing home. Yet, they don’t make enough for an apartment and are homeless,
living out of their car. Their son, JJ,
often times, stays with his grandmother until they can get back on their
feet. They are the sweetest couple and
treat each other (and others) well. We
all miss JJ, as he is a loving, wonderful 7-year old.
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| Theresa and Jersey, with dog, Brianna; a sweet, loving couple. But, where's JJ? |
Kojak is
one of those guys who is very social, friendly and loving even though he is
drunk. He is enjoying the pizza I
brought and the fruit pie and drinks Bill gave him. His bruised ribs are healing well and he is
all smiles, today.
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| Kojak was a bar tender and then a chef in fine restaurants. Go ahead; ask him. |
Shelly,
along with others, walk over from the other side of the bridge. Shelly is a wonderful, giving, loving, intelligent
and beautiful homeless woman…until she has a drink. She doesn’t become more of these things after
drinking, as Kojak would. If she has
been drinking, people scatter when they see her coming (see post from 7/13). She loves the Lord and we pray for her
healing. At this moment, she is sober. I take her at face value and I don’t ask any
questions.
“But,
where is Stosh?”
It’s
explained to me that he and a friend got a hold of a gallon. I am not told a gallon of what, though I strongly
suspect a gallon of what. I don’t
ask. They walked over on the short
railroad wood truss bridge and over to a sandy, bushy island (a peninsula,
really) they call “Gilligan’s Island.”
His drunk
friend came up to us as we were leaving to see if he could have some pizza to
take to the “island.”
Nope. No questions asked; no other answer given.
Before
leaving, I give them the Scripture of the week; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made to God…” Philippians 4:6
Bill and
I drive over to the other side of the bridge, to the Bridge Camp. We now see why they are all coming to the Bay
Side Camp which is on the lee of the bridge.
The windward side is very windy with waves being kicked up high, spraying
the edge of the park.
Through
the sound of the howling wind and whistling palm fronds, Don is sound asleep,
covered up on a chaise lounge by Gary’s van!
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| Don; peace during the storm. |
Gary
steps out of his van to take his fishing pole out of the bay and brings in his
fishing net. No fish today. He is very glad to get pizza and fruit pies. They each have their favorite fruit pie which
Bill has memorized. Gary likes apple
while Boudreaux, who just walked up, loves the lemon or chocolate pies.
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| No fish today, uh, Gary? (Ask him about the one he missed!) |
The
homeless all have favorite foods, articles of clothing and even colors. There are things they won’t eat, no matter
how hungry they are; and things they won’t wear no matter how naked they are. No questions asked.
Bill
cannot walk on the sea wall over to the bridge, as he would probably be blown
away by the 35-40 mph wind gusts, not to mention the waves (he doesn’t weigh as
much as most). Once, when the waves were big, we still walked the sea wall to
minister to those under the bridge. I
kept reminding Bill, who was in front of me, “Don’t look at the waves and the storm,
Bill, just keep your eyes on Jesus,” in reference to Peter walking on the
water.
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| Most injuries to our homeless come from falling on rocks and off seawalls. Why, you ask? |
Boudreaux
and Jack the Fisherman Astrophysicist, wave at us as they come from under the
bridge to let us know that THEY will come over.
Good.
We feed
them all, chit-chat a while, encourage them in the Lord and leave to go to Jack’s
camp. We also give Mari a ride back to
her camp.
We pull
up to Jack’s camp, honk twice and get the food out of the truck. Mari is glad to be back in her camp as Jack
is still the first one to come out of the woods and greet us. I know they’re hungry, but they make us first
feel welcome; shaking hands, hugging, and welcoming words.
As Bill
and I take the food out, Michelle and Jim walk up. Michelle pulls out her cell phone and calls
John just under the bridge and down the tracks to tell him we have pizza. John loves to socialize, but also enjoys the
privacy of his own camp.
She points
at me and says, “John wants to see you!”
While Bill
is ministering to the others, I take stock of their needs; Jack – 28” waist for
pants, Mari – chicken noodle soup (she’s been losing weight and needs to eat
more; she weighs about 80 pounds, now), bug spray and shorts, John – 32” waist
work pants. I hand out toilet paper, propane
gas while Bill hands out fruit pies, cold drinks, socks, boxer shorts, wipes,
etc.
However,
what they appreciate more than these things is the fellowship; the time we
spend with them, the prayers, the stories – the love of Jesus Christ, for if we
have done it to the “least of these,” we have done it to Jesus. When we give to them, we really give to
Jesus. When we love them, we truly love
Jesus.
I try to
mostly listen to them as they share, rather than ask questions.
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| Jack the Intellectual and Mari: When we love them, we truly love Jesus |
We part
way and head to John’s camp. We drive down
the side of the railroad tracks until we see John coming up on his bike. It’s good to see him and we all head back to
his camp, nestled in the trees and barely visible.
John, who
is usually alone, is very picky about who stays at his camp. He now has a guest
named Patrick. We sit with them and
fellowship while they eat. John tells me
that Patrick has no clothe (he has shorts on) and stays in the tent rather than
being eaten by bugs. I tell him I have a
T-shirt for Patrick. When I come back
from the truck with a new red T-shirt, John tell me that Patrick doesn’t like
red! I look at Patrick and he nods in
agreement.
He would
rather be naked than wear red! No
questions asked. That’s fine. You’ve got to know when not to ask questions.
“You want it, John?”
“Sure!”
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| Patrick doesn't like the color red! |
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| John the Irishman |
Being a veteran, John went to the VA hospital to be checked, as he has lung cancer. A new, large spot was found on his right lung. He said he kind of knew it because he had pain there, he was not feeling well and he had been getting out of breath quicker. He is feeling better, today.
It’s
strange because he is strong, healthy looking and does work when he can. He looks to be barely over forty years old,
but is actually sixty-four! I told him I
would be praying for him. We talked
about the Lord, heaven and his life. He
doesn’t complain and has a positive attitude.
John was
saddened by the loss of the beaded chain around his neck with a crucifix hanging
on it. He has also lost his prescription
glasses which makes it hard for him to work, now. I don’t ask how he lost them. I do ask how I can help him get new
ones. He is working on getting them
replaced.
As Bill
and I silently drove away, I had a little talk with the Lord about John which I
will have to finish when I get home.
I have a
lot of questions to ask the Lord.
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| Even these homeless pigeons wait for us on Sundays! They loved the pizza. |
Good night, folks, and God bless y'all.
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