“When you see a child starving on the street, you scream at God. When I see a child starving, I hear God screaming at me.”
Tonight was one of those nights where everything felt like rhythm. It was an overzealous performance from the sun today. A cool breeze was the bass line in the background. They sunset’s solo in the sky carried on longer than normal, but no one minds.
When we arrived at Fort St. Church, I saw a text that informed me that there was no power in the church. No one was in the building. The doors were locked. I use an electric code to get in. This was a concern. But when I used my phone to get in, the door opened right up. It was one of God’s jokes.
- This makes no sense. No one could get in or out without a key at all that day. Traci and I went inside, confirmed that the other teams were still doing outreach that night. Then we made 50 meals, packed clothes and hygiene kits. We left the door propped open to load the van. We let the other outreach teams in when they got there. The power was off to the entire church. I could not get the door to open again for the rest of the day. If it would have been locked, we would have gone home. Uncanny. God loves us.
The adventure began far out on the west side of Detroit. We went to an abandoned house that we had been to before. Last time we were there, a whole crowd of people came pouring out. This time was just one man. As the medical team helped him out, we noticed a trickle of older men come peeking out of the alley and sliding toward us. We helped a few men, but they told us that farther down there was a parking lot and a fence. We found a bunch of people who lived back there. Several women stayed in that spot. Everyone was overjoyed and full of thanks.
I announced loudly for everyone to hear, “No matter how dark a hole in Detroit you try to hide in, God’s gonna find you. And He’s gonna send me.”
“You know that’s right, girl!” “God is good!” “Praise Jesus, thank you sista!”
We had a whole holy revival going on in that back alley! Can I get an Amen!?
Clothes were a hit this week. Food is always the priority.
We’re down to our last $28. Traci bought the bread this week and I bought the gas. I’m over half-way through writing that grant letter- again. I know we can do this. We save too many people from death and despair every week to believe that giving up is an option for us.
We went back to an old spot. The harm reduction team had been there earlier in the day, but there was a lot of requests for food and clothing. That means us. The first woman we were there to see lived behind a dumpster. She only owned the clothes on her back. More people slowly slinked up next to us, waiting for their invitation. People are so polite and genuinely grateful.
What I love about our street outreach team with Magdalene’s Mission is our unconditional love of ALL people. For instance, two men slowly walked up to Maggie the van. One of the men was dressed in a tank top and shorts. The person he was with was wearing a long white t-shirt that was ripped up but hung down past his knees, a pin-stripe suit jacket, and knee-high, black, suede boots, with a black hood over his face. Alrighty then.
If that’s the way God made them, that’s the way God wants them. They looked nervously at the bin of men’s clothes, then the women’s clothes. I love Traci. She said, “Oh sweetheart, you can take whatever you want. It’s okay.”
First things first, out of the boots, and into a pair of attractive sandals. Ripped t-shirt exchanged for blouse. He/she had no pants on, fixed that. The dude with them was the boyfriend. Traci and I could see that he was scared and waiting for us to say something mean, judgmental or preachy. Traci and I know that we represent a whole religion of people who claim to adhere to the philosophy of Jesus Christ. Sometimes that means we take the guff for the ‘not so unconditional with their love’ people. We were compassionate and respectful. They were treated like human beings who deserved dignity. Because they are. By the time that couple left, they were both so relieved that they made new friends. We thanked them for their prayers and blessings they laid over us.
Another young girl was wearing a tattered cocktail dress. It looked like something a doll would wear. She was so tiny, and yet the dress barely fit her. Sometimes I believe that the best thing Traci and I do on Tuesday night is to be nice to people. We love on them right where they are on their journey. That, combined with a homemade pb&j and socks, is sometimes just enough to remind you that God still loves you. It gives one enough hope to fight for another day.
We’re emptying out the van in just a couple of hours. We sure could distribute a lot more food to starving people out there. Bread, peanut butter, jelly, any snack food, anything. I’ll take it to them, and you can save lives, too. Magdalenesmission.com has links to all the ways to donate to Magdalene’s Mission outreach.
There was an old man sitting alone on the sidewalk. We gave him a meal and hygiene kit. He gave us prayers, blessings, and a genuine hug.
Everyone’s laughing.
Everyone grins.
Everyone’s happy.
Everyone wins.
And that’s how we do it in Detroit!
Amen!
