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| Why is Stosh saying, "Hello Poland?" |
Sunday,
September 21, 2014
They migrate mainly from the North. As the cool fall
weather descends further south over the coming weeks, many of the homeless will come
south to avoid the coming winter cold. A few will stay with us and some will continue on further to south Florida. Our northwest Florida weather can end up in
the low twenties (F) in the heart of Winter!
The ranks
of our homeless population can swell thirty to fifty percent for a few weeks at this time of the year.
Though
you may be familiar with the following homeless men and women from the previous
blogs (and I hope you do read their amazing stories), let’s find out where they
are truly from.
“Hey,
Stosh, where are you from? (See post
from 6/20)
Of
course, Stosh is one of our regular, year-round homeless residents.
“Well,
actually, I’m from Poland.”
Wow,
that’s really far north! “What do you
mean you’re from Poland?”
“We lived
in the southern part of Poland when my parents moved to America. I was about four or five years old at that
time.”
Wow! That is some migration!
Wow! That is some migration!
Then he
told me his last name; Szczechowicz! I
would have known that was Polish!
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| Stosh can eat more than any one I know! |
We don’t
do last names with the homeless; I don’t know theirs and they don’t know
mine. There is no real need to
know. It’s not important. With many of the homeless, I only know their
nicknames; never even knowing their first names. However, whatever name they use, make sure
you remember it.
Where
your heart is; that, they want to know.
Can you love them in the name of Jesus Christ? That’s all that really counts.
Let’s
look at a few of our local homeless residents and see from where they migrated.
“Happy”
is from Milton, which is about thirty-five miles from
here. It used to be a small country town
nestled in farmland, woods and crystal clear creeks. However, it has grown a bit more in the last
few years.
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| Happy says, "You've gotta hear where this cross came from..." |
“Happy’s”
cross that was given to him (post from 9/15) broke on the bottom, and he’s a
little upset about it. He doesn’t know
it, but I’m planning on soon giving him a new one. It’s important to him, as it reminds him of
the protection Jesus gives him when he is in the street.
Quiet,
mild-mannered JJ (8/9) is from here; Pensacola.
The cross around his neck serves the same purpose; faith in the safety
of the Lord.
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| R. to L.- JJ, Stosh, John, Chris with the hurt ankle, Tina, Cojac |
Robert
(7/21, 7/12), Mari’s son, is from here (Pensacola), as is his girlfriend,
Rachel. They make a beautiful
couple. He’s homeless, though she is
not.
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| Rachel and Robert |
Mari
(8/17, 7/21, 7/14, 7/12), Robert’s mom, is from Patuxent River, Maryland. Mari is from Maryland; get it? That makes sense, doesn’t it? She married down here and had three sons,
after which she was widowed. Better to be down in warm Florida then to be in colder Maryland, right, Mari?
“Jean-Luc?”
“Yea.”
“I need a tackle box.” Mari doesn’t ever ask for much so this must
be important. She continues, “I’m the
bait girl! I fish for the little bait
fish the guys put on their hooks to catch the big fish. I need a tackle box.”
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| Mari and Stosh. Mari says, "I'm the bait girl!" What? |
She
usually ends up having to look around the fishing pier for discarded hooks and
sinkers which wastes valuable time when the fish are biting. Stosh, the
fisherman, catches the big fish which they sell on the pier.
I was
watching Stosh help a little ten-year old girl fix her reel, pole and line so
she could fish. He took his time to show
her all the little details of catching fish, which her parents didn’t seem to
care about. The little girl seemed to be
totally involved in fishing and what Stosh was teaching her.
“Mari,
look at Stosh with that little girl. He
is showing so much patience with her.”
“Yea, he
is so good with kids,” she says proudly.
It’s
Jersey’s turn to be in jail this week (read posts 8/9, 7/21, 7/14)! Well, he might be in longer than a week, this
time. Not everyone is really sure what
happened, but it seems they do agree that he stole something and got
caught. We don’t really need the
details. Jersey, by the way, is from Jersey (New
Jersey).
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| This is what happens when Jersey walks on the rocky sea wall at night! |
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| The man-eating sea wall! |
Chris
took Jersey's place. Chris was here with us
for about a year and then left for about six months to live in a house with a
roommate. But, the roommate is now gone
and he is back with us. Chris is from
Decatur, Alabama – the next state over.
Chris is
a very respectful and soft spoken, born-again, homeless man who has stopped
drinking for about a year, now.
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| We can hardly see Chris in his camouflage gear |
“Jean-Luc?”
“Yea,
Chris.”
“I need
to get a driving job – even as a taxi driver.
I’ve got a clean record.”
I believe
Chris is the only one of our large group who has not gone to jail!
“I’ll
keep my ears open, Chris. I’ll let you
know if I hear of a driving job opening.”
There was
a time when we were praying a lot for Chris, as he has a pacemaker and had serious
heart problem about a year ago. He says
he is doing better now than he ever has.
He is looking great.
Kojak is
from New York – the Bronx (8/26, 7/21, 6/20)! Everyone laughed when he said
that because of his accent which is definitely from New York. He was a bartender for seventeen years and a
chef. He is excited that I’m cooking
everyone a spaghetti dinner at next Sunday’s church service.
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| Kojak, the ex-bartender has some stories to tell! |
Our other
Chris (8/26, 6/20) is from Phoenix, Arizona.
He’s the one with the hurt ankle and the stolen car. He is getting better, however. I hope he can get that oil rig job in
Oklahoma he’s been talking about.
James,
the Music Man, or Guitar Man (8/17), as he is known, just wrote a song he wants
us to hear. It’s smooth and jazzy – an
actually good song to which we all clap.
He will play it completely for us next week. He will also play Amazing Grace for our
service, next Sunday. Awesome! He’s from
Alabama, next door.
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| Yea, I wrote this song. I really did. Do you like it? |
Jack the
Fisherman, Astrophysicist (9/15, 7/12) is from Nevada! Then where did he learn to fish? Right here in Pensacola. Of course, he loves marine biology and had
been accepted at the Woods Hole Institute, in Main, to study that subject. But, he went to M.I.T. instead, attending
there for three and a half years.
“How in
the world did you end up here?”
He says,
“Well, Gilligan’s Island needed a professor!
(See post 8/9)
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| Jack the Fisherman, Astrophysicist, The Professor! |
Shelly says, “I haven’t had a drink in over a week!”
(8/22, 7/14)
“Good for
you, Shelly. Praise the Lord!”
Shelllly,
from Alabama, is such a sweet, wonderful saint of God…when she’s sober – and
she’s sober today. We have great
fellowship with all present at the Bridge Camp.
Of course, we feed them, etc. but Bill, Paul and I really enjoy being
with God’s precious children. They are
honest, transparent, normally cheerful, unpretentious saints of God who will
literally give you their only shirt off their back if you needed one more than
they did.
Pete
(Red) is from Louisiana. He took over a
space under the bridge that really needed cleaning. He has been working at it for a couple of
weeks, so far, and everyone admits he is doing a great job of keeping the camp
cleaner. Way to go, Pete!
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| Pete likes his camp clean! |
Ryan is a
pleasant, smiling, young man that is visiting us and is from Milton. No matter how much I try, I cannot understand
anything he says. But Tina, for some reason, understands him completely and
lovingly translates everything he says for me!
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| Ryan is a very polite young man. God bless you, Ryan! |
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| Tim is the only homeless man I know with a private pilot's license! |
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| Praying under the Palm Tree. Standing L. to R. - Pete, Tim, Paul, Tina, Bill, Ryan, John |
Jack the
Intellectual (8/26, 7/21, 14, 12) is from Portland, Oregon. He tells me that there is a library in
Portland which takes up blocks and blocks of the city. It is the biggest library in the world, he
says.
With a
sparkle in his eyes, he continues, “If you want the History section, they
direct you, not to a “section,” but to the next building over, taking up a
whole city block!”
“Have you
read every book in that library, Jack?”
“Just
about,” he replies, chuckling.
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| Jack LOVED the Portland, Oregon, Library! |
Don is
initially from Illinois, but has also lived in Fort Lauderdale, south
Florida. Don just had a heart attack and
is recuperating very well. He is working
part-time as a dishwasher in a restaurant nearby.
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| Don is recovering well from his heart attack! Praise God! |
The dogs
are an important part of the homeless camp.
They are joyful animals whom the Lord loves very much, also. They are very friendly, healthy, licensed, lovable
and well taken care of.
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| Dogs happily playing in camp! Hanna Montana or L. and Brianna on R. |
The black
one is Robert’s dog named Hanna Montana!
The brown dog’s name is Shug. It was Jersey’s dog, but since
Jersey is going to be in jail for a while, Chris has taken Jersey’s place and
has taken over as caretaker of Shug.
However, we know that it takes a whole camp to raise a good dog.
All in all, it is not really important where these
men and women migrated from, as much as where they are going to. They are most assuredly going to heaven, covered by the
blood of Jesus who loves His precious children so much that He is preparing
mansions for them in heaven - even as we speak.
And He’s almost done.
Good night, folks, and God bless y'all.
P.S. There
are 1,584 other homeless in our county who need your love. God bless them, too.
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