Brian’s Homeless Blog

A few people suggested that we should just stay home tonight. It would have been easy enough living an hour away and in the middle of a massive snowstorm, but God said”Go”. As I traveled to pick two friends of mine up that arent blessed with a 4 wheel drive I started to get a little scared. The roads became worse and worse and there were several times when I thought” I should just go home, no ones gonna be out in this”. I called my friend Gene to see if we were still a go and the answer was yes.

I picked up my friends and the roads started to get really bad, cars off in ditches, fire and rescue zooming past everywhere, so I called Andy another friend, hoping each time that it would be called off and low and behold the answer was “Yes, we are still on”. During my ride the conversation turned to how many did we think were gonna be out tonight if any, and so on and so forth.

When we arrived at the parking lot(safely I might add) we had a total of 10 devoted volunteers. After we circled up and prayed we headed off. Something I noticed right off the bat was the road to our first destination was clear. It was as if God himself had cleared a safe path for us to travel. The first stop which is under a huge bridge had 2 homeless that would have gone hungry that night had we not stopped and given them some soup and some blankets. They were so thankful and they commented on how they new we would be there. The second stop we had about 5, the third stop we had 5 which we also gave a ride to the grocery store and to the place they were staying. We got a call from a couple that about a two months ago came to know Christ and both have changed there lives accordingly. The young man no longer hustles drugs for a living and the girlfriend has been enrolled at the local community college and is working dilligently  to get her CNA degree. They are staying at a local motel that allows them to rent on a weekly basis. They were so happy to see us, they both prayed aloud with all of us and what a wonderful blessing it was to see them doing well. When we left I went to the front office and Ryan and I paid there rent for three nights. The night manager was shocked. He also did not have change for us so we told him” If they ask you who paid the rent tell them God provided it(because He did!) and to keep the change”. “God bless and have a good night.” I think that touched him more than anyone we fed tonight. We are reflections of Christ in everything we say and everything we do. You never know how one act of love or kindness might not only affect the person in which it was given but someone just nearby that may be watching.

Now the sad, cold reality. We have a homeless man named Cowboy. He is in a wheelchair, mostly because he gets more money as a panhandler, and sometimes because he just needs a place to sit and people bother him less if they think he might be handicapped. He has been kicked out of every local hotel, mission, and safe house. Cowboy is an alcoholic and just by some long observations might have some mental problems as well. As we were driving to our last stop we saw him wrapped up in a blanket, in his chair, in a dark cubbyhole infront of a closed business. When we got out to bring him a bag of food and socks and see what else he might need. He was almost near death. He had no gloves, and his hands where purple, he said he couldnt feel his feet, and was in terrible shape. We had no blankets left and after checking with every possible hotel in the area, we had NO options to help this poor man. All we could do was call an ambulance without him knowing because he refused to go when I asked him if he needed one and hope that they might take him at least to the emergency room. They came out talked to him for abpout 10  minutes, gave him a blanket and said” See ya”. As Justin, Ryan and I left we all wanted to cry. I know we are doing Gods will out here because of the couple in the first story, but is the best we can do the same as trying to dam the frenchbroad river with one sandbag? Would Jesus have left this man there with no options? Would he have spent the night with him and joined him in his suffering? We wear our bracelets and t-shirts with “What would Jesus do?” and I wonder what WOULD Jesus do? I dont know what for certain he would have done but he would not have left his brother to die in the streets on a cold winters night. Next time you walk into the Candler Center at church just for a moment look at how many cots spaces there are and ask yourself what are we called to do and what are we using this wonderful space for. Does a pretty to place to have a nice luncheon mean more than some dirty homeless people sleeping in the floor? The time has come for the body of Christ to be the body of Christ and not the behind that we sit on the pew with each Sundays. God has called all his children to do more so WHY arent we doing it.

I welcome all comments and suggestions.

Brian Allen

828-674-1627

I am always amazed at how God has taken care of us as we try to do his will. At work the other day a lady out of the blue, came in and said she had heard about our ministry and had some canned goods for us. This came right at a time when we were going to have to purchase another lot of items and now we can go another couple of weeks without having to spend anything. God is great!

We also have been blessed that God has sent us a few extra hands to help out with the feeding on Mondays. Thank you God!!

If anyone would like to come out and see what we do we would encourage you, but we do have a few ground rules.

1. DO NOT GIVE OUT MONEY. PERIOD. We always ask them if there is a specific need and then we try to meet that need. Money will always go straight to the addiction thats keeping them out her in the first place. Plus if one person finds out you gave out money, everyone will pull you aside and ask for money. So NO MONEY is given. Ever.

2. Come with an attitude of service and love. If you want to come out to make yourself feel better, then stay home. Everyone thats out here can spot a fake and you will do more harm than good.

3. You have to earn the right to share the gospel with these folks. You have to have a genuine care and love for them and they have to see that you love them more than anything and then you can present the gospel to them. You can do it before hand but they will absolutely ignore most of what you say. You have to care about them as a human being first.

 4. If you dont think you can hug someone who smells bad, looks bad, hasnt showered in weeks, and may be intoxicated or high then please stay home.We hug everyone no matter what they look or smell like. These are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, and we need to love them just like they are part of our family, because they are. Dont come dressed in your Sunday best, they will avoid you like the plague

5. If you are uncomfortable about praying with someone or leading the pray before we eat or after we leave then come and talk to me.

If your ok with these few guidelines then feel free to come and join us.

If you need directions to where we meet or need any more info please feel free to call me.

My name is Brian Allen and my number is 828-674-1627.

Tonight it seemed a little colder than most of expected. The turn out tonight was probably around 60-70 people and we had around 20 people serving and helping. Montrez, a young man we lead to the Lord last week made the trip back into town to thank us for all we did for him and to say hello. Its an amazing thing to see there demeanor change so drastically for the better. God is Good! The sandwich bags we had left over went to a local organization called Ahope and everything was used for Gods glory. Thank you Calvary for your support in this endeavor to make our community a better place and a community that knows God loves them.