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compassion
While I hear Churchians talking about how “the poor are poor because they make poor choices,” I daily watch single mothers working at the drudgery of minimum wage jobs that just cannot pay the bills, and daily facing the temptation to dance (and more) in the strip clubs on our street
In my mind, I started yelling at God, “You can’t send me people like this, and then not give me some way to help them! What do I do?!”
I looked up from wiping the counter to see a man standing on the front sidewalk, arms outstretched with a thermos jug gripped tightly in his hands. He was shaking from head to toe. Several of us ran to the front door to meet him. He just stood there mumbling incoherently and trembling, holding out his thermos. It was empty.
Amazing revelation to me this morning
“If your gospel is only about yourself, your spirit, your converts, and your words, and in practice your highest loyalty is to your flag . . .
One of the more frustrating elements of ministry at Joe’s is the complexity of the roots of problems. We daily encounter these plus the worldview and value system that is inherent to generational poverty. Add to these the ingredients of drug addiction and mental illness, and otherwise simple needs become recipes for extreme frustration.
“This is the original revolution: the creation of a distinct community with its own deviant set of values.” John Howard Yodel
I looked at David, an alcoholic, vietnam vet who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and who spends part of every day at Joe’s, and his mouth was hanging open. He said, “That’s like ‘deja vu’ or something . . .”
Without a beat of hesitation, he responded, “God told me that we are going to have a lot of people!” My heart dropped. Oh no, I thought. What if God didn’t really say that to him? What would it do to Carl’s faith if people didn’t show up? I threw up a quick prayer, “God, you know… please show up! For Carl’s sake!”
Joey’s stared at me, his eyes widening and filling with tears. He said, “I am in darkness. I’ve been in darkness my whole life. That can’t be what God is saying.”
Local politicians prevent any legal action from being taken against the forced prostitution rings because they owe their position and influence to the wealthy business interests behind the brothels.
when I walked in here about an hour ago Jessi, one of the women here, grabbed me and took me next door. It was full of food for the guys, as well as gloves for them!
The point of this piece is to convey a feeling of the ambiance and sense of community the owners, employees, and regulars of his establishment are creating in a geographic area which could very easily find itself caught in a web of depression and hopelessness. The strip clubs that litter the landscape of this street may provide a few moments of arousal for their patrons, but these feelings are fleeting and are, in the end, detrimental to the overall health of the voyeur. What Joe’s Addiction provides is warmth and hope without judgment. They also provide one heck of a good cup of coffee.
