Stories From the Streets 2/18/22
Stories from the Streets 2/18/22
We are so excited to be starting this new blog to be able to share stories of what is going on the streets with our team and those we are serving. We will be intentionally sharing generic stories of what we experience on the street as a team, and specific stories of our team members and those we are reaching, how they are impacted by how God is moving in their lives and the work we are doing.
As we kick of this new project, I just want to share about this week in more detail than you generally will see through our short videos and online posts. This week we had a number of quite challenging experiences on the streets here in Louisville and while none of them are overly long, I just felt like it would be helpful for those who ask about some of the things we see and experience.
This Monday we took out bags of snacks and hot chocolate, and at our first stop we had multiple people come up to us and tell us how hungry they were and how they had not eaten in days. Surprised, I talked with one or two of the people on the streets who shared that majority of the organizations that took meals out stopped when the COVID pandemic started, and the ones that did not stop, or started up again, only go to specific areas. It shocked me hearing about the level of hunger that was being experienced here on the streets of Louisville. Often when we go out we know we want to meet people's needs and do what we can to open the doors for relationships and the Gospel. But never have we experienced being the source that keeps so many people from going hungry for an entire day, much less for several.
This Thursday we had a major thunderstorm that dropped over 2 inches of rain on Louisville but that did not stop our team. As we hit our first stop we had several interesting encounters, while our team was talking with a man and helping him carry the meal and blanket we gave him he pulled out a crack pipe and lit it while still engaging with our team. At the exact same time we had a fight break out between two individuals on the other side of the street next to the rest of our team. As we went to the next stop to escape the escalating situation we pulled up to a camp that had just broken up a major fight. As we were there ministering we had a man walk up wearing no shirt and covered in cuts and bruises and start harassing our team. He simply wanted to cause a problem, so we wrapped up our conversations and distribution of food in that camp, and moved on to the next one. On our way to the next camp down a one way road, someone turns the wrong direction down the road and almost hits us head on! What a night!
None of these experiences by themselves are out of the ordinary for us by any stretch, they definitely are more of the extremes we see, but they do happen. However, I have never seen so much happen in the same evening. It was truly a challenging evening. Through all of the stories of last night, our team stayed strong, standing through the winds and the rain, giving out food and blankets, having conversations and loving the lost, and bringing the Gospel of Jesus to the streets of Louisville.
We are so excited to be starting this new blog to be able to share stories of what is going on the streets with our team and those we are serving. We will be intentionally sharing generic stories of what we experience on the street as a team, and specific stories of our team members and those we are reaching, how they are impacted by how God is moving in their lives and the work we are doing.
As we kick of this new project, I just want to share about this week in more detail than you generally will see through our short videos and online posts. This week we had a number of quite challenging experiences on the streets here in Louisville and while none of them are overly long, I just felt like it would be helpful for those who ask about some of the things we see and experience.
This Monday we took out bags of snacks and hot chocolate, and at our first stop we had multiple people come up to us and tell us how hungry they were and how they had not eaten in days. Surprised, I talked with one or two of the people on the streets who shared that majority of the organizations that took meals out stopped when the COVID pandemic started, and the ones that did not stop, or started up again, only go to specific areas. It shocked me hearing about the level of hunger that was being experienced here on the streets of Louisville. Often when we go out we know we want to meet people's needs and do what we can to open the doors for relationships and the Gospel. But never have we experienced being the source that keeps so many people from going hungry for an entire day, much less for several.
This Thursday we had a major thunderstorm that dropped over 2 inches of rain on Louisville but that did not stop our team. As we hit our first stop we had several interesting encounters, while our team was talking with a man and helping him carry the meal and blanket we gave him he pulled out a crack pipe and lit it while still engaging with our team. At the exact same time we had a fight break out between two individuals on the other side of the street next to the rest of our team. As we went to the next stop to escape the escalating situation we pulled up to a camp that had just broken up a major fight. As we were there ministering we had a man walk up wearing no shirt and covered in cuts and bruises and start harassing our team. He simply wanted to cause a problem, so we wrapped up our conversations and distribution of food in that camp, and moved on to the next one. On our way to the next camp down a one way road, someone turns the wrong direction down the road and almost hits us head on! What a night!
None of these experiences by themselves are out of the ordinary for us by any stretch, they definitely are more of the extremes we see, but they do happen. However, I have never seen so much happen in the same evening. It was truly a challenging evening. Through all of the stories of last night, our team stayed strong, standing through the winds and the rain, giving out food and blankets, having conversations and loving the lost, and bringing the Gospel of Jesus to the streets of Louisville.
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