“The Plans I Have”

We walk on Wednesdays.

Well, that’s usually the plan anyway…to walk and pray for our community and the people we serve on the streets. We hit up he areas where we know we are most likely to find “our people” and we sit with them in shady alleys, in the scorching sun behind McDonald’s, or in a camp under a welcoming willow tree. Most days, they ask to pray for them before we even have the chance to ask.

Hitting The Streets

Some days, the work that we do feels hopeless. I suppose that feeling comes from serving those who feel hopeless most of the time. Last week was one of those extra hard days. As we walked and prayed, we ran across a just a few of our people. Our first friend had been beaten up pretty bad. He’s an older guy, and we always worry about him anyway. He looked bad. Part of his face was swollen, and his ear black and blue. Discouragement and defeat were seen in his eyes and he didn’t seem very with it. Any time we see him, he immediately has a prayer list for us, but today was different. He allowed us to pray for him, but the discouragement was still hovering over him when we left.

A few blocks later, we ran into someone we love very much…my “penny lady” (read that story here). She’s about my age, not much older at all. Now, she is back on the streets after almost dying and a short stint off sobriety. Her health is failing and she’s fading away. Honestly, I wouldn’t call it fading. It’s hard to watch the way the way her body responds to its slow shutdown. She pulled us aside to tell us she wasn’t okay, and that she needed to go to the hospital, the group of men she was with all proclaimed that she really needed to go as well. I told her I would go get my vehicle and come back for her.

The Writing on the Sidewalk

On the way back towards our vehicles, our path took us down a sidewalk where some children and a couple of teens were doing some chalk art. As we carefully tiptoed through their work, my friend and I simultaneously noticed a Bible verse written in chalk. It read: “Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare & not for evil, to give you future & a hope.” Off to the side “John 3:16” was also written in chalk. My friend immediately told her she loved the verse, and I stopped and took a picture. One of the girls seemed particularly excited that we stopped for a picture, and told us that she runs track for high school, and sometimes, when she’s out running, she writes Bible verses on the sidewalks. I was so moved and asked her if we could pray them. They both wholeheartedly agreed. I prayed that they would never lose their boldness, that they would continue to be bright lights in our community, walking close to Jesus, and then I prayed for our community.

Trusting His Plan

We continued on to our parked cars, and I went to out to look for my “penny lady.” She wasn’t where I had left her, so I continued down an ally where I often find our people. There she was, stumbling down the block with her group. I rolled down my window and asked if she was ready. But, she wasn’t ready. She “had things to take care of.” This is often the case in the work we do, and if someone isn’t ready, you can’t force them to get there. I left sad and frustrated.

As I drove away, feelings of discouragement washed over me. I wondered if I would ever see my “penny lady” again. And then I thought back to the teenage girls my friend and I had met earlier and the message on the sidewalk. It was not lost on me that God ordained that meeting. Accidents like that don’t happen. God winks is what they are. Jeremiah 29:11 can often get taken out of context, but here’s what I know to be true: God has a plan, even if I’m not privy to it, and I will keep trusting Him as I serve our unhoused neighbors. My future is secure, because regardless of what happens on this earth, I will live forever with Jesus. He will never harm me, and when things look hopeless, He is the hope that I cling to.

The plans I have are not always the plans He has, and that’s ok.