So my friend Brian and I took to the streets for a few nights led by our friend Tomas who has lived on the streets for years. He said that we would need to find our own squat to sleep. That was part of the experience and he was not gonna just tell us where would be safe or where he normally sleeps. The first day we met up with him in the middle of Ybor and he told us that we were unprepared and at least had to find some blankets. We went to a local ministry that works with homeless people and they gave us a couple. Not before they questioned us about being on the streets. (I am pretty sure she didn’t believe us but it was getting weird and she just gave them to us.) Tomas said we were far to clean to fit in but that we wouldn’t be for long. Since we knew that The Well has a meal they call The Banquet every Thursday in ybor we knew that we would be able to find some dinner that night so we put our minds and feet to finding a squat (a place to sleep). We found a few spots that seemed promising but at one we really liked I stepped in some poo and lets just say there was some paper nearby! Not dog do do! Not that we still thought this might be a good spot but as I cleaned up Tomas told us how important it is to bury your poop. We could think of several reasons that this might be a good idea but in the end his reasoning was that he wants God to be with him. What? Yup, Deuteronomy 23:13-14 says : “...when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you...” God doesn’t even hang around if theres crap there!! So on we went. WE ended up finding a nice spot behind a manicured section of the I-4 exit ramp. We stashed our blankets and stuff in the bushes and kept walking around the city. Below are a few reflections on the journey.
Pruning
As we walked he asked us what we would grab if we could get one thing from home. Shoes! i said emphatically. these are killing me. I already had blisters and we were only half a day into what I was learning was an itinerant life. Tomas granted my wish and we stopped by the lake house to swap shoes. The Lake House is normally great about helping guys on the streets but Natalia screamed at me as I came up to the house “Homeless people can’t just go home and get their other shoes!!” She was right and I still did get some better shoes. Then her hospitallity kicked in and she brought us all a drink on the porch and off we went. (By the way brians response was “hmm, that will probably keep changing, right now its headphones, tomorrow in would probably be socks and underwears, and after that who knows.” He is right the longer we were on the street the more basic our needs and desires became. All of our normal cravings and whims were silenced and a soda seemed indulgent. After the couple nights we spent outside his answer became clear. ‘A watch.’ I can’t tell you how slow time seemed to move and how clueless we were about when the sun might come up. THis morning we were wide awake just waiting for the sun to rise and he finally walked to a gas station to find out what time it was. When he got back he informed us that it was only 3:15 AM!! I wanted to cry. I was freezing, wet with dew, and just sore from laying on the ground.)
We just walked and walked and walked. We did stop and relax at a few parks along the way but if we wanted to eat we had to get ourselves to the next meal site, plus we got shooed when we stopped for one of us to tie his shoes. We literally spent the second day walking to get from lunch to dinner. We walked all the way to Brandon for dinner. The meals were great and what a relief it is to sit down with smiling faces and enjoy a meal after walking in the dust and heat and scorn of everybody all day long. As I stood in a line outside of the salvation army’s Trinity cafe for lunch I was struck by the general joy of people with real struggles and I couldn’t help but think about my middle class community and its tendency to complain about everything. Literally drive to a restaurant in an air conditioned car, sit down at a beautiful meal, in a beautiful place, with a beautiful person and complain. It really staggers the mind. “God forgive me for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” -Isaiah 6
Coffee and the Morning Paper
Both mornings we were up before the sun and itching to move again. (Even though our feet were in blatant disagreement) We each had a few dollars which was enough to get us a coffee and dollar burrito at McDonald's each morning. I am telling you I have never enjoyed being in a McDonalds more in my life. We sat in a booth, read the newspaper, drank coffee and just soaked in the Micky D’s goodness. On the front page was an article about tampa discussing the banning of panhandling. What a great situation to have this discussion. We talked about the ways that we felt about this possible ban and what that might mean for poeople, like tomas, who really need help from others. How can it be made illegal to ask for help? How could anyone without any access to money ever sit in a both at Mcdonalds, read the paper and discuss their lives together? How could rich people disgust and disregard for the poorest members of our society hide behind the guise of public saftey. There have not even been any reported accidents other than one newspaper salesman three years ago. This is strictly about the potential for an accident OR bigotry and distaste. I was pleased to hear that the debate has been shut down for now as Joseph Caetano failed to get a second, so his motion to ban panhandling died. I was relieved. Maybe we should each take a minute to call or write those that stood against the ban and thank them for doing what is right.
http://www.tampagov.net/dept_City_Council/about_us/ here is a link to write the members of City council.
By the way you may feel like this is a good debate and you are not sure which way you are leaning and thats ok. But these people are calling for an ‘immediate’ ban for public safety reasons without cause. Lets pray for them and their families and ask God to bless them, soften their hearts, and lead them to a place where they would feel the impact of their legislation.
Pam Iorio is calling to make the ban county wide instead of just in the city.
Charles ‘Chip’ Fletcher, who was named by Iorio as the City Attorney
Faith
Tomas says it takes a lot of faith to live on the streets. Trusting God for safety, rest, food, etc. The presence of peace is, to him, Gods presence. Incidentally that is also why he is so adamant about burying poop. That presence is all you have and you do whatever it takes to keep Him with you. Faith is everything in such precarious places.
Feet
Jesus was always on the move, a tramp, and he called disciples that would leave everything and follow him. Many times we think how hard it is for people to leave everything. It is, but with these blisters on my feet after walking around tampa with Tomas I can’t help but imagine how hard it would have been to actually follow Jesus. TO get up and walk from town to town, seek out food and trust God for rest. When Jesus was leaving his disciples he said, if you love me you will do what I do. You will keep on walking. He promised that he would send a guide that would walk alongside them, and walking, being sent, movement, was implied.
Isaiah 52:7 says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news”
Beautiful are the feet that are dirty, blistered, calloused, stinky, covered in ant bites, and still moving. They don’t stop because it hurts. They are on a mission and marching to the cadence of our Father.
Hilarity
Oh and when I found a bathroom at the park and it had no toilet paper Tomas asked me if I needed some 'shit tickets' as he offered me a stack of napkins. Then he warned that often times on the streets your body will use a lot more of what you take in causing your movements to be a little loose. Really? I asked. "Ya its called Tramp Splat" He smiled as I threw up in my mouth a little.
Pruning
As we walked he asked us what we would grab if we could get one thing from home. Shoes! i said emphatically. these are killing me. I already had blisters and we were only half a day into what I was learning was an itinerant life. Tomas granted my wish and we stopped by the lake house to swap shoes. The Lake House is normally great about helping guys on the streets but Natalia screamed at me as I came up to the house “Homeless people can’t just go home and get their other shoes!!” She was right and I still did get some better shoes. Then her hospitallity kicked in and she brought us all a drink on the porch and off we went. (By the way brians response was “hmm, that will probably keep changing, right now its headphones, tomorrow in would probably be socks and underwears, and after that who knows.” He is right the longer we were on the street the more basic our needs and desires became. All of our normal cravings and whims were silenced and a soda seemed indulgent. After the couple nights we spent outside his answer became clear. ‘A watch.’ I can’t tell you how slow time seemed to move and how clueless we were about when the sun might come up. THis morning we were wide awake just waiting for the sun to rise and he finally walked to a gas station to find out what time it was. When he got back he informed us that it was only 3:15 AM!! I wanted to cry. I was freezing, wet with dew, and just sore from laying on the ground.)
We just walked and walked and walked. We did stop and relax at a few parks along the way but if we wanted to eat we had to get ourselves to the next meal site, plus we got shooed when we stopped for one of us to tie his shoes. We literally spent the second day walking to get from lunch to dinner. We walked all the way to Brandon for dinner. The meals were great and what a relief it is to sit down with smiling faces and enjoy a meal after walking in the dust and heat and scorn of everybody all day long. As I stood in a line outside of the salvation army’s Trinity cafe for lunch I was struck by the general joy of people with real struggles and I couldn’t help but think about my middle class community and its tendency to complain about everything. Literally drive to a restaurant in an air conditioned car, sit down at a beautiful meal, in a beautiful place, with a beautiful person and complain. It really staggers the mind. “God forgive me for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” -Isaiah 6
Coffee and the Morning Paper
Both mornings we were up before the sun and itching to move again. (Even though our feet were in blatant disagreement) We each had a few dollars which was enough to get us a coffee and dollar burrito at McDonald's each morning. I am telling you I have never enjoyed being in a McDonalds more in my life. We sat in a booth, read the newspaper, drank coffee and just soaked in the Micky D’s goodness. On the front page was an article about tampa discussing the banning of panhandling. What a great situation to have this discussion. We talked about the ways that we felt about this possible ban and what that might mean for poeople, like tomas, who really need help from others. How can it be made illegal to ask for help? How could anyone without any access to money ever sit in a both at Mcdonalds, read the paper and discuss their lives together? How could rich people disgust and disregard for the poorest members of our society hide behind the guise of public saftey. There have not even been any reported accidents other than one newspaper salesman three years ago. This is strictly about the potential for an accident OR bigotry and distaste. I was pleased to hear that the debate has been shut down for now as Joseph Caetano failed to get a second, so his motion to ban panhandling died. I was relieved. Maybe we should each take a minute to call or write those that stood against the ban and thank them for doing what is right.
http://www.tampagov.net/dept_City_Council/about_us/ here is a link to write the members of City council.
By the way you may feel like this is a good debate and you are not sure which way you are leaning and thats ok. But these people are calling for an ‘immediate’ ban for public safety reasons without cause. Lets pray for them and their families and ask God to bless them, soften their hearts, and lead them to a place where they would feel the impact of their legislation.
Pam Iorio is calling to make the ban county wide instead of just in the city.
Charles ‘Chip’ Fletcher, who was named by Iorio as the City Attorney
The City Attorney's Office is located at:
Old City Hall, 5th Floor
Tampa, FL 33602
Tel: (813) 274-8996
Fax: (813) 274-8809
Assistant Police Chief John BennettFaith
Tomas says it takes a lot of faith to live on the streets. Trusting God for safety, rest, food, etc. The presence of peace is, to him, Gods presence. Incidentally that is also why he is so adamant about burying poop. That presence is all you have and you do whatever it takes to keep Him with you. Faith is everything in such precarious places.
Feet
Jesus was always on the move, a tramp, and he called disciples that would leave everything and follow him. Many times we think how hard it is for people to leave everything. It is, but with these blisters on my feet after walking around tampa with Tomas I can’t help but imagine how hard it would have been to actually follow Jesus. TO get up and walk from town to town, seek out food and trust God for rest. When Jesus was leaving his disciples he said, if you love me you will do what I do. You will keep on walking. He promised that he would send a guide that would walk alongside them, and walking, being sent, movement, was implied.
Isaiah 52:7 says “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news”
Beautiful are the feet that are dirty, blistered, calloused, stinky, covered in ant bites, and still moving. They don’t stop because it hurts. They are on a mission and marching to the cadence of our Father.
Hilarity
Oh and when I found a bathroom at the park and it had no toilet paper Tomas asked me if I needed some 'shit tickets' as he offered me a stack of napkins. Then he warned that often times on the streets your body will use a lot more of what you take in causing your movements to be a little loose. Really? I asked. "Ya its called Tramp Splat" He smiled as I threw up in my mouth a little.
i'm so grateful to God i know people like you. i learn so much from you all at the Lake House and it only inspires me to keep going deeper with Jesus.
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