The Tale of Two Tims

Last night, under the Broadway bridge.

I met a young man named Tim. He lost his job recently. Knowing that he couldn't afford to stay in his apartment, he began making plans. He found a tent at Walmart that was on sale. It was a large, family size tent. He found a place in the woods, cleared it, and set up his tent. He found a friend that needed a place and paired up with him. You can't set up a tent and leave it unattended out there. He found a job at a local theater and they were training him to be a projectionist. He was saving $20-30 per paycheck, putting it in a can and burying it. "I know that for any place, I will need a deposit." He carried and had in his tent his worldy possessions. He had a plan and was working it. He told me that he was a Navy brat and attended 12 different schools growing up. What a resourcefull guy. Good news, Tim, the kingdom of heaven is accessible to you.


I met another Tim last night. He was a co-worker of Keith's. This was his first time under the bridge with us. His two kids served cookies and handed out cokes to the homeless, and they did it unabashed and with a smile. Tim spent most of the night talking with three of the homeless off to the side. Toward the end of the night, I wandered over to them. I noticed as I approached, that the three homeless were giving Tim their rapt attention. As I listened in, Tim was doing some old fashioned preaching or street witnessing, whatever you want to call it. I noted that the three were eating it up. They did not look put off in the least. I also noticed that the three would jump in, at times, with some preaching of their own.

I have done street preaching in the past. Its not really my style at this point. As I listened, I wondered if it was doing any good. Did it add anything specific to their situation? They seemed to be trully encouraged, or at least glad to be having the conversation, if that is what it was. By the way they responded, they clearly had experience in this type of situation. They were quoting the word, saying amen at the right times. Yet they were on the streets. Where did they go and what did they do after we left? They clearly had relationships with other known addicts down there, though they did not look intoxicated last night. I thought about what it was like talking with a drunk. Drunks will engage with you, agree with you, pray with you, promise you, cry with you, and make just about any committment with you, that night. But tomorrow is another day.

I am not judging what Tim was doing. I was impressed. I just wondered what good it did. The dictim "there is no humanitarian solution to humanitarian crises" was ringing in my head. The encounter appeared to be a good one, though I would be cautious about overstating what good it did. We can just be statisfied that, at that time, it was good and it stood on its own, but it was the easy thing to do. We spent about 1.5 hours under the bridge. We drove up in our warm cars and left to our warm houses. No sweat. No disruption in our lifestyle. Our lives go on, as did theirs.

Jesus preached, and for some, he sent them home with the encouragement to sin no more. What happened after that?

There is a network of goodness, led and fueled by the Spirit. Maybe the preaching encounters are just a part of that network. Maybe the change comes from participating in and hanging out in that network over time. Is that network seamless, however, especially on the streets?

Just some more thoughts from under the bridge. A great practicing ground. A great spiritual formation playing field. One night that was worth about six months of sitting in someone's living room or in some church classroom talking and being vulernable. Churches seem to have it wrong for the most part. Hit the streets mostly, then hang out in a small group occassionally, not the other way around.