"He touched my tears…”
Least, Last, Lost in L.A.
She pulled me in for a kiss… and I let her have it. Sherry’s breath and smell made me cringe, but love for her told me to let her pull my left cheek to her lips. A murderer, guilty of first-degree man slaughter, Miss Sherry Patchoulli found herself on skid row ten years ago. She’s kept their by her pistol-hot attitude and her addiction to alcohol. I have never seen Sherry Sober. But we had a good laugh as the Carolina-sweet-pea (Sherry) danced in her blankets and yelled at people across the street. We laughed with Sherry about where life had taken her, and cried when she showed us her the newly developed bald spots on her white mohawk - since she's been on chemo-therepy for the breast cancer that has been living inside her little body. She told me last night: "well... I'm dyin' Kyle..." So we prayed. When I met Sherry, she was crying and saying, “they stole ma' blankets… they stole all ma’ blankets.” I sat down while my friend took off his jacket and gave it to her. I told Sherry as I wiped her alcohol-smelling tears from her eyes, “You can’t cry! Please don’t cry!” She looked at my friend Theresa and said with some degree of surprise, “He touched ma' tears… Why did he touch ma’ tears?” I asked her, “Sherry, who loves you?” She said, “I dunno, Gawd a’ guess!?” I said, “Sherry, if anyone ever asks you again, you tell em’ Kyle loves you because Jesus loves him.” Mr. Eddie Coe, a homeless man walking the streets, saw our team praying and shouted, “can I get in on this?!” We welcomed him in and he prayed for us… a little drunk, paranoid, or high, I am not sure, but Mr. Eddie Coe had lost touch with reality as he tried to recall the Gospel for us to hear. “My wife was born in 1909…” and other statements caught us off guard. Then he began quoting a Christian favorite: “…that whoever should believe in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life… (turning to Geoff) and yo’ head look like a bell-peppa’!” and turning to Frank, “and yo’ head look like a poppy-seed!” We had a good laugh as Geoff remarked, “I’ve never gotten that one before!”
Team Mongolia walked the streets of Skid Row well past most American’s bed-time, and well after our official meeting times ended. We prayed for the demon-possessed and the crippled, the destitute and the addicted. We found Jesus. Undeniably and raw… Jesus in blaring glory and brokenness for His creation. It was like we could feel the concrete moving beneath us, groaning for reconciliation and redemption. We sat and prayed over Henry, we prayed with Mr. Eddie Coe, we met with Miss Sherry, Brad, Vaughnia, a handful of others, and we asked God to move on the streets where literally ten-thousand homeless men and women lay their heads each night.
Skid row. A fifty-block district overlooked by the LAPD. Where the homeless can sleep on the streets and drug-dealers can make a living without any hassle. Their tents, cardboard boxes, and bodies curled-up in blankets line every street. Some want to talk. Some want you to go away. Some want help. Some want to feed their addiction. But whatever it is, this place is dark. You can literally feel a shift in the heavenlies when you cross the line that separates the cosmopolitan from the crooked and corrupted streets of Skid Row. Demons are not hiding in Skid Row, they are well and at work with full-awareness of the ones they oppress. So we prayed, and we will pray. “Father, break the bonds of oppression that keeps your creation from seeing you in Skid Row. Would you fulfill the longing and let your glory shine in that place. Yes Lord, would you cast out demons, heal disease, and comfort the suffering! But Lord, please open blind eyes to see your face. And in the light of your face, would the darkness of souls be exposed and turn towards you.”
Come Lord Jesus. Come!
Last night, after I prayed for Sherry, I pulled that dirty, alcohol-smelling mohawk towards me, and planted a big kiss on her forehead; and another on her scabbed up hand. Sherry knows she's loved. And it didn't take much. We didn't have money, blankets, or food. Just time set aside for the agenda of being with Jesus. Compassion without Compromise.
This week, continue to be in prayer for my team! Our %50 deadline for fundraising is tomorrow. We are currently $10,354.00 short of that goal! We have a big God - so we ask for BIG things! Please pray big for team Mongolia!
Team Budget: $28,572.00
Deadline - %50 by April 20th
Current: $5,751.00
Needed to reach %50 - $8,535.00
Blessings in Christ,
Brother Kyle
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