I've been doing some reading lately, various things. Articles on Crosswalk.com, online newspaper articles, online stories about "religious" topics. I find people's comments on those articles fascinating.
For example, an article in the San Francisco Chronicle talked about the volunteer work at SF City Impact on Thanksgiving Day. It discussed how people are volunteering to help those in need even though the volunteers themselves have suffered financial setbacks this past year or more. It mentioned that a group of people from my church, Lakeside Church in Folsom, went down to SF to volunteer on Thanksgiving Day. Comments varied from supportive to hateful. It appears a number of people want to know why we felt we had to drive 2 hours to volunteer in a different city, didn't we have volunteer opportunities in our own town? Others appeared to feel Christians are to blame for a lot of the city's problems. They called Christians racist, sexist, bigoted, self-righteous and evil. They were right, we are human beings after all. Christians suffer from the same character defaults as non-Christians. We sin the same sins as non-Christians. The difference is this: As Christians, we have hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Back in August, the night of Lakeside's Steps Forward dessert, Roger Huang from SF City Impact was one of our speakers. He spoke of his ministry in the Tenderloin, he spoke of how his ministry got started, what he is currently doing in his ministry and of what he hopes to accomplish there in the Tenderloin District. Roger spoke of the children that live there, he spoke of offering them hope and a better life. He is very passionate about his work with the Tenderloin's residents, not only the children but the elderly, the alcoholics, the addicts, the prostitutes, and the street people. Like Jesus, Roger's daily life intersects with the "sinners and tax collectors" of that area. The people that most of San Francisco looks down upon because they are deemed unworthy and not acceptable by "normal society." During that event Roger asked the people of Lakeside to step up and help the people of San Francisco's Tenderloin District. That's why we drove 2 hours on Thanksgiving Day to pass out food in SF. There were between 800 and 1,000 volunteers that day. The majority of them came from communities outside of SF. If the residents of SF resent us for driving from out of town to help their neighbors, why don't they step up and help the less fortunate of their community themselves? If enough San Francisco residents stepped up, Roger Huang wouldn't have to go out of town to different nearby communities to ask for help. He would find all the help he needed right there in his own backyard.
Something else noteworthy here... Yes, we drove 2 hours to volunteer in SF. Lakeside Church also works within their local community. Lakesiders volunteer with the local food banks, elementary schools, and other ministry programs in and around Folsom. We also have volunteers who drive more than 2 hours to spend their time assisting with other churches and ministries wherever the help is needed. And we have an entire flock of short term and long term missionaries that go across the U.S. and other countries to not only spread God's word but also work alongside the residents of those areas to improve their lives and living conditions. God has called us to go the "Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth." We are just doing our best to be obedient to that call.
There is so much more to say. But the people who need to hear this will not listen. They see no need to listen. All I can do is pray for them, whether or not they want my prayers.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My latest adventure
I left the apartment early, it was before sunrise. The tree-lined streets I drove down were dark and empty. The air was cold, crisp and foggy. Every once in a while another car passed going in the other direction. As I got closer to a main street other cars became more and more frequent. By the time I hit the main drag I no longer felt alone or isolated.
Arriving at my destination I was quickly put to work. There were over 100 pies and cakes to load onto the bus. As others arrived we recruited them to help and we made short work of loading the bus. Next came cases and cases of frozen turkeys and several other boxes of supplies. After loading them and the band's equipment on the bus we finally loaded up all the passengers.
More than 60 people were riding the bus and over 140 more drove or rode in their own cars. We were headed towards San Francisco's Tenderloin District where we were joining Roger Huang and SF City Impact to bring Thanksgiving Day to the residents of one of San Francisco's worst neighborhoods.
Arriving in San Francisco we made quick work of unloading the bus. Our band members exited first, taking their equipment to the stage area on a blocked off area of Jones Street. The rest of us took the cakes, turkeys and other supplies to a staging area in a nearby park. We signed in and received our ID stickers with our work assignments on them. Then we joined Pastors Jeff and Roger and other leaders in the staging area in the blocked off area on Jones Street for orientation.
After orientation we broke up into our work groups. Some groups were pakaging groceries for distribution, others were assembling hot meals into carry-out boxes, still others were serving a sit down meal in the park while our band played for their entertainment.
I was assigned to group 6: delivery. Our leader was a tall, lanky man named Albert. He took us to a corner of Boedecker Park where we loaded up with bags of groceries to deliver to a residential hotel down the street. We had about 15 - 20 members in our group and we each grabbed two big yellow bags of groceries. Albert told us that he lived in this building alongside the people we were delivering to that day. We followed Albert down the street like a gaggle of ducklings, keeping our eyes on his gray and black "jester's" cap.
At the hotel Albert told us this was a 6 story building. Several of us got into the elevator so that we could start delivering to the folks on floor 6. Unfortunately, the elevator didn't climb to the 6th floor with everyone in it. As a matter of fact, the elevator only went about 1/2 way to the 2nd floor. We returned to the first floor where we offloaded about 1/2 the passengers. Trying it again this time the elevator went almost all the way to the 4th floor. Climbing up and out of the elevator, we decided to climb the remaining stairs to the 6th floor. Long hallways of many doors faced us. We spread ourselves down the hallways and began knocking,
"Free food!" we yelled. "Happy Thanksgiving! Free food!"
The bags of groceries were quickly dispersed. We then went to a kitchen on Turk Street for boxes of hot meals. The scene was similar to the grocery distribution only without getting stuck in the elevator. We climbed all 6 sets of stairs.
"Happy Thanksgiving! Hot meals!" we yelled. We knocked, we banged, we did all we could to attract the residents attention. No one wanted to miss out on a free, hot meal. Some of the residents swung their doors open wide to greet us, others opened their doors barely wide enough to accept the food. Everyone said, "Thank You!"
We delivered hot meals to 4 residential hotels. We met a wide variety of people. Some were friendly, gregarious even. They opened their doors and chatted with us. Some even invited us to peek into their rooms. We couldn't do much more than that because their rooms were pretty small, certainly not large enough for visitors. Others were not as friendly. They peered fearfully out their doors. They scurried and scampered back into their rooms as soon as they received their food. It was difficult to understand what it would be like to live as some of these people do, never leaving their tiny rooms, confined to a space of no more than a few square feet. As we walked down those hallways we saw and smelled evidence of the extreme poverty of the Tenderloin's residents.
Yes, some of the resident's are there as a result of the poor choices they have made in their lives, choices involving drugs, alcohol and other addictions. Some of them are there due to the inability to care for themselves due to mental or physical illnesses. No matter what their reasons for being there, they are all God's children. I was there that day to serve them. I was joined that day by approximately 1,000 volunteers. We were all there to spread the love of Jesus.
I went home that evening exhausted. I slept most of the way home on the bus. Driving from the church to home felt like a much longer trip than normal. I slept on the couch until my son came home from the Thanksgiving meal he shared with his girlfriend and her family. It was a full day. I hope to do the same thing next Thanksgiving.
Arriving at my destination I was quickly put to work. There were over 100 pies and cakes to load onto the bus. As others arrived we recruited them to help and we made short work of loading the bus. Next came cases and cases of frozen turkeys and several other boxes of supplies. After loading them and the band's equipment on the bus we finally loaded up all the passengers.
More than 60 people were riding the bus and over 140 more drove or rode in their own cars. We were headed towards San Francisco's Tenderloin District where we were joining Roger Huang and SF City Impact to bring Thanksgiving Day to the residents of one of San Francisco's worst neighborhoods.
Arriving in San Francisco we made quick work of unloading the bus. Our band members exited first, taking their equipment to the stage area on a blocked off area of Jones Street. The rest of us took the cakes, turkeys and other supplies to a staging area in a nearby park. We signed in and received our ID stickers with our work assignments on them. Then we joined Pastors Jeff and Roger and other leaders in the staging area in the blocked off area on Jones Street for orientation.
After orientation we broke up into our work groups. Some groups were pakaging groceries for distribution, others were assembling hot meals into carry-out boxes, still others were serving a sit down meal in the park while our band played for their entertainment.
I was assigned to group 6: delivery. Our leader was a tall, lanky man named Albert. He took us to a corner of Boedecker Park where we loaded up with bags of groceries to deliver to a residential hotel down the street. We had about 15 - 20 members in our group and we each grabbed two big yellow bags of groceries. Albert told us that he lived in this building alongside the people we were delivering to that day. We followed Albert down the street like a gaggle of ducklings, keeping our eyes on his gray and black "jester's" cap.
At the hotel Albert told us this was a 6 story building. Several of us got into the elevator so that we could start delivering to the folks on floor 6. Unfortunately, the elevator didn't climb to the 6th floor with everyone in it. As a matter of fact, the elevator only went about 1/2 way to the 2nd floor. We returned to the first floor where we offloaded about 1/2 the passengers. Trying it again this time the elevator went almost all the way to the 4th floor. Climbing up and out of the elevator, we decided to climb the remaining stairs to the 6th floor. Long hallways of many doors faced us. We spread ourselves down the hallways and began knocking,
"Free food!" we yelled. "Happy Thanksgiving! Free food!"
The bags of groceries were quickly dispersed. We then went to a kitchen on Turk Street for boxes of hot meals. The scene was similar to the grocery distribution only without getting stuck in the elevator. We climbed all 6 sets of stairs.
"Happy Thanksgiving! Hot meals!" we yelled. We knocked, we banged, we did all we could to attract the residents attention. No one wanted to miss out on a free, hot meal. Some of the residents swung their doors open wide to greet us, others opened their doors barely wide enough to accept the food. Everyone said, "Thank You!"
We delivered hot meals to 4 residential hotels. We met a wide variety of people. Some were friendly, gregarious even. They opened their doors and chatted with us. Some even invited us to peek into their rooms. We couldn't do much more than that because their rooms were pretty small, certainly not large enough for visitors. Others were not as friendly. They peered fearfully out their doors. They scurried and scampered back into their rooms as soon as they received their food. It was difficult to understand what it would be like to live as some of these people do, never leaving their tiny rooms, confined to a space of no more than a few square feet. As we walked down those hallways we saw and smelled evidence of the extreme poverty of the Tenderloin's residents.
Yes, some of the resident's are there as a result of the poor choices they have made in their lives, choices involving drugs, alcohol and other addictions. Some of them are there due to the inability to care for themselves due to mental or physical illnesses. No matter what their reasons for being there, they are all God's children. I was there that day to serve them. I was joined that day by approximately 1,000 volunteers. We were all there to spread the love of Jesus.
I went home that evening exhausted. I slept most of the way home on the bus. Driving from the church to home felt like a much longer trip than normal. I slept on the couch until my son came home from the Thanksgiving meal he shared with his girlfriend and her family. It was a full day. I hope to do the same thing next Thanksgiving.
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