Homeless Bums

So I was walking around downtown today. Totally had a Chipotle gift card that I found in my room. Had $10 on it. BOOM. Free EPIC lunch. Sat there and enjoyed my steak-fajita-spicy-sour cream-lettuce burrito, also known as God's gift to Earth, or as I like to see it, to me. It was deeeelicious. As I walked down 16th I looked around and people watched (as I usually do when I walk around 16th) I saw people scavenging through trashcans looking for food. One even came up to me asking me for money and my selfish stupid butt could not give up a dollar or even a quarter. Why did I lie? I kept wanting to turn back and give the man my whole wallet.... But I just kept walking. I mean, we think about how far that dollar would go and where that guy would use it. Would he use it to buy drugs or alcohol?

I have a list of 100 things to do before I turn 20 and one of those is have lunch with a homeless person. Not just give them lunch, but have lunch with them. I've decided that I will find that guy I've turned down and have lunch with him.

It sucks that there are so many homeless people that daily go through trash cans to find food where here I am on a Monday night all fussy because I can't find a snack after I was blessed with 3 meals today. There was actually another time I was at Chipotle where I sat outside and after I was finished I threw my bag away (I was going to get it to go but instead sat oustside) and not 30 seconds later, a homeless guy walks up to the trashcan, pulls out the bag and sees if there is anything in there... Something just didn't feel right. But the whole food thing is not even half of it.

After these guys spend a whole day trying to find leftover food in trashcans, they have to prepare for the night. It's Colorado and the nights here are definitely not warm. I could not imagine how they for one go to bed on an empty stomach and two most likely will have to sleep outside, no blanket, no bed, in the cold. As I rode the light rail home, I could see that some have established encampments using cardboard boxes. You know those big trailers that 18-wheelers haul around? Well there was one that was parked near the side of the light rail tracks and a bunch of cardboard boxes were made into a small little house thing under the front two legs (if you know what I'm talkin about.) Oh yeah. Someone definitely sleeps there at night.

Its not just 40 yr old creeper dudes who haven't shaved that are homeless people. I saw a blind homeless lady. Didn't know how that worked. I just hope and pray she's doin ok. But what strikes me is that I recently learned of the large population of homeless teens. YES --> TEENS! That's people my age!

So there's this one kid (we will name his Chad) came. I've been told he's being helped by one of the other guys that go to church through a program thing for homeless teens. In other words, this kid WAS a homeless kid but is being helped. When I first met him I did not know. When was this? So every Saturday night I run a Saturday night service thing right? Been doin it for about 3 months. Well the first one I ever did was with no band, no sound system. Just me and a guitar. (Now I've got a full band and the whole shebang) BUT anyways. Back to Chad. He was there at the first one. Guy from church told him to come. I think he was livin at a halfway house or something. After I played a couple songs that night he came up afterwards introduced himself and said it was great. The next day I get a call from the guy from church and I was told that this kid was one of the laziest kids ever that he worked with, struggling to get a job and all, but yet when he got home after my Saturday night service thing, he called the guy from church and totally went off on how awesome he thought it was. This kid had to commute via public transportation to the church which was at least an hour from where he was. Took him more than an hour to get there, stayed 45 min-ish to watch some kid play some Jesus songs, then another hour to go back home.

Why did I just share this story? Because through 45 min of my lame guitar playing and my off key singing, I was able to somehow edify this guy. A used-to-be-homeless teen that's trying to get off his feet.

If I was able to do that with a guitar for one kid, what are the possibilities?

Within the next two weeks I will have reached the goal I set out to do that day after my first night service. For three months I have wanted to get together a band and go downtown and play music for homeless people and any others who are lost (in many ways I guess) and hopefully, I can somehow benefit them in possibly some spiritual way.

It's a calling. And therefore I will go. Just like IT says to do.

Until the whole world hears.... Mark 16:15