Our staff has been on the streets with very specific goals this week—making sure that everyone has a safe place to go during the cold weather and encouraging those that are fearful of the emergency shelters to let us help them find somewhere else they can go. Our founder, Elisabeth Jordan, along with Ricky Jimmerson, had an encounter this week that reminded us all of how important this work can be—that God sees and knows "the one" that he puts on our paths each day.
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We sat down next to an elderly man who has become our friend over the past six months. Like we do during extra cold weeks, and especially before the chance of snow or ice, I asked him, “Where are you staying tonight?”
“Right here,” he told us, as he pointed to the ground beside him.
“You can’t stay here,” I said.
Ricky added, “You’ll freeze.”
“Do you have anything else? What do you sleep in?”
He pointed to the jeans and coat he was wearing, “Just this. I bought a new hat and gloves this morning because I was cold.” Then he shrugged and said, “And if I freeze, I freeze.”
Our friends are often treated as if they have very little value... so they can begin to see themselves in the same way. I reached my hand out, and said, “It’s not okay if you freeze.”
Ricky said, “Your life matters.”
We repeated again and again that he matters to us, that we care about him, that it’s not okay if he dies. He told us that he has PTSD from prison and is too afraid of getting hurt by someone else in a large-shelter setting. It’s something we hear often… it’s one of the main reasons people don’t go into the large emergency shelters: fear of getting hurt.
He agreed to try to get into a smaller shelter, and we promised to come back to check on him.
“Can we pray over you before we leave?” I asked.
“Yes,” and we all held hands as I thanked God for his life and that we’re in a position to help him. We asked for protection over our friend.
After we left him, we were able to find a smaller shelter nearby that we believed he might feel safer in. We let him know and encouraged him to go at 2pm when it was scheduled to open... and he said he'd go. We went to check on him again about 5pm, and he wasn't in the same spot, so our prayer is that he made it into the shelter. We will go back tomorrow to make sure he found safety and warmth for the night. To make sure this "one life" is loved, cared for, and fully valued.
This is the work you enable us to do. It’s not for the masses; it’s for the one. We stop to see the one person who doesn’t have a tent, who won’t go inside because of fear. We meet the few people who can’t or won’t go into a large shelter, and we offer them a lifesaving place to stay for a few days so they don’t freeze. People can give up on themselves, but God never gives up on anyone, and we don’t either.
This is the work you enable us to do. It’s not for the masses; it’s for the one. We stop to see the one person who doesn’t have a tent, who won’t go inside because of fear. We meet the few people who can’t or won’t go into a large shelter, and we offer them a lifesaving place to stay for a few days so they don’t freeze. People can give up on themselves, but God never gives up on anyone, and we don’t either.
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