homeless

Kneeling

| Laura Lee Bonde

Yesterday, the neatest things happened. (I love how the “neatest things” happen daily. It makes the morning so exciting.) It all started on the way to work in my prayer time.

In the early morning, I heard a pastor sharing about his amazing time with God in his bedroom with the door closed, kneeling, laying before Jesus…just a sweet time. The first reaction in my heart was ‘I wish I had my own room.’ (I share a room with my kids.) Anyway, I continued on with my morning and left for work.

As I was driving down the road, listening to worship, I began praying. I was thanking God for the cross…all that was accomplished. All of a sudden, my knees began burning with this cooling sensation, like Icy Hot. It was amazing! Immediately, I KNEW it was God, so I shut off the CD, turned off my ear piece, tossed my phone and started thanking Him, and I asked Him what it was for. He explained.

God revealed to me that kneeling isn’t the position of your body; it’s the position of your heart, and the way I was communing with Him at that moment was the expression of the kneeling of my heart. I was undone. He told me more, but those things are private…just between me and Him. (By the way, the burning in my knees last two hours!)

I was just enjoying His Presence, arrived near work, parked, and started walking. I was having the best time with Him. As I was walking down the sidewalk, I made eye contact with a homeless man named Rick.

At first, he was hesitant to reveal his name, but after I told him mine, he softened. He extended his hand as if to shake mine and stopped. He said he didn’t want to get my germs and didn’t want to give me his, so we fist pounded. [Will I ever feel comfortable doing that?]

He went on to tell me that he didn’t want to get sick, that he had enough problems with arthritis and COPD. I said, “Hey, God loves you and wants to get rid of that. Can I pray for you?” He started crying. He said, “Forget that. Pray for the alcohol to leave.” I melted, literally. I knelt at his feet and listened. He poured out his heart, the oppression, the strong hold he was trapped in. I just listened.

Right then, a resident came down the stairs to leave and said hi to Rick. Rick called him by name and said hi back. (He must’ve been a regular on those steps.) Rick was telling him what was going on and how I was praying for him, and he said something funny, which made me laugh. He said, “But I don’t like her laugh though.” It was hilarious. I told him my laugh is like tequila: you either love it or hate it. He smiled.

As I was praying, he was weeping. It was an amazing encounter with God. We said good-bye, and I went on to work. As I was walking with God, it dawned on me: I just got to “kneel” at his feet. It was just a cool realization of kneeling in my heart and kneeling on the ground. God is so good!

I love it when I’m able to “feel” God’s touch, and I’m glad I don’t “need” that to know He’s there. I don’t “need” a room with the door closed. I need an open heart with eyes ready to see all that God wants to do. No one can take away what I have with Him. Actually, even the loneliness has gone away. I’m taken. I’m loved. I’m favored. I’m used. Hallelujah!

Christmas Eve at the Beach

| Laura Lee Bonde

141224_0001

Before I went with a group to take Christmas to the dump, I followed God’s voice to the beach. Let me explain.

On Tuesday (12/23/14), I was thinking about our trip to take Christmas to the people at the dump in Mexico, and I thought, “What about taking Christmas to people here?” That was the beginning of thoughts. Eventually, I had the idea of taking donuts to the homeless people on the beach in Ocean Beach, but I wasn’t sure if it was “my” idea or God’s.

As I was telling a friend at work, he said, “Even if you don’t do it, it’s a good idea.” Well, a good idea should be followed by action, so I told God, “If You want me to go, wake me up early in the morning, and I’ll go.” I carried on with my day, my night, set my alarm for almost 5 am, and went to sleep. Sure enough…God had a plan!

He woke me up at 4:07 am. I looked at the time and said, “Okay. I’ll go.” I made my coffee, enjoyed my time with Him, and got ready. When I walked into the donut shop, they had all these Christmas donuts, so I asked for two dozen. They looked so pretty and festive. 141224_0000

When I arrived at the beach, I didn’t see any homeless people, but I “knew” I was supposed to be there because I “knew” I heard God’s heart. I decided to sit on the wall where we normally do outreach and wait to see if someone would come by. As I approached the wall to set the donuts down, there they were. They were huddled in the sand down behind the wall, all snuggled up, trying to stay warm. I said, “Merry Christmas! I have Christmas donuts for you!” They were so happy.

A couple of them arose immediately to enjoy the donuts. A couple of them didn’t want to disturb the warmth they had obtained. I sat down with them and started to get to know them. God is so good!

Aries: she traveled from Portland Oregon to engage in “Black Sheep” and has been sleeping outside wherever she goes. She’s so young. Evidently, “Black Sheep” is a week long celebration in the woods where hippies gather to do drugs. It’s in Yuma. I had never heard of it. Following it is a “Rainbow” celebration where the drug-fest continues on. She had a sore throat. God healed her.

Robert: he was so blown away and so happy that someone thought of them to bring them donuts. He kept saying, “Thank you” with the happiest eyes and the biggest grin.

Matthew: at first, he was skeptical, but as I sat and talked with everyone, he softened up. He stayed in his sleeping bag and shared about parts of his life. He allowed me to pray over him. (In the end, he got up to hug me.)

Will: he stayed wrapped in his blanket for awhile but liked talking about our Savior. He was an older gentleman, whose eyes were blue at times.

After eating a donut, Robert went to the restroom and came back with others.

Simon: he’s been on the beach for awhile, scavenges for food and is often given drugs. He showed me his box of special necklaces, rocks, yarn, etc. It was his treasure box. He even played music for us. (You can imagine the type of music it was.)

Panda: he calls himself the original “Panda.” He’s been around at OB for a long time and is well known. He loved the donuts and sat and talked with me for a little bit.

Jacob: he likes to be called “Jake.” He was so happy to have Christmas donuts. He kept saying thanks and hugging me. Actually, there was a lot of hugging going on.

The whole time that we were all sitting around, talking, laughing…there was a grumpy looking man watching us, walking by at a distance, sneering. He never came over for a donut…just watched.

As we were talking, I asked them, “If I could gather up a donation of food, what would be best food to give you, while living on the beach. Cereal?” In unison, they all said, “Yes! Cereal! We love cereal.” The girl hollered out “Lucky Charms!” Which brings me to my next thought: collecting boxes of cereal for these precious ones.

It came time for me to leave, so I headed for the car. On my way, I came near the grumpy looking guy. I stopped and asked his name.

Larry: he was watching to see if I was being for real, what were my motives. He shook my hand, hugged me, and said, “Thank you.”

God is SO Good! He has the BEST plans.

A Moment of Value

| Laura Lee Bonde

A little while ago, I met a very grumpy homeless person at the bus stop outside of work. We would talk here and there. I would pray for him, bless him. He mentioned he didn’t believe in God but would “humor” me by letting me pray. Then, he met God.

A couple months back, he collapsed, was rushed to the hospital, and returned back to the bus stop with a pacemaker and a walker. (He was not a fan of either one, especially the walker. When he sits, he uses it as a head rest. When he walks, he carries it.) When he had returned to the bus stop and I had seen him, he said, “Laura, after almost dying, everything looks different now.” And it was only the beginning.

I had prayed for him that day, and when he returned (like a week later), he said he was freaked out because after I had prayed, “things happened.” Anyway, a couple weeks ago, he gave me an envelope with papers in it to show the kids. It was about model airplanes. His passion. (When a homeless person loans you something, that’s huge because they don’t have much to lend out.) I really wanted to return this to him but stopped seeing him.

The past two weeks, I have been checking almost daily at the same time he’s usually there and haven’t seen him. He always caught the 10:08 am bus. I wouldn’t see him every day, maybe once or twice a week. Yesterday, he wasn’t there again, so I told God, “Alright! Where is he? Will you let me know if he’s okay?” He answered.

Around 11:30 am, I went outside to deliver mail, and there he was! I said, “Emil! Where have you been?” He was happy to see me and had been blessed with a temporary place to sleep (if he’s early enough). We only had a couple minutes to talk, and the bus approached. He got up, and I pointed at him and said, “YOU have VALUE!” He looked up toward heaven and yelled, “Do you hear that, Ma?!” Then he looked at me, smiled, and got on the bus.

I love God, how He moves, how He loves, how He waits, how He protects! He’s so awesome!