I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now I see you.
Therefore I despise myself
and I repent in dust and ashes *.
*My thanks and gratitude go to Big Papa, who distributed a brilliant list of 50 verses to memorize at my second last year of Senior high camp at RECM. You were right. Memorizing scripture is a very good way to meditate on, rest in, take strength from, and communicate with God.
At 10 am I am finished my revelations for the day and decide to head out. Upon disembarking from the train at 8th and 7th, I notice that in the place of my favourite Street Talk vendor outside the Moxie's/Sandman, there is a guy who looks to be 17-23 years old in a spiked green hoodie sitting with a cardboard sign that reads, "Travelling and Hungry. Anything will help." I feel drawn to go and talk to him, to offer him money. God, I don't have any cash. All my money's in debit and I need it for my camera. In a moment of brightness, I remember that I at least have a nature valley honey oat bar. Stopping a few feet away, I crouch down and retrieve the thing from my Mary Poppins black backpack. He was very gracious and thanked me for it after I offered my flimsy excuse about not having any cash and asked if the bar would be ok. I guiltily headed on my way towards the camera store and promised God that if he was still there when I came back and I had time before my shift I would go talk to him and pray for him.
What do you know, I had more than 45 minutes to spare. And while paying for my camera I discovered $5 in my wallet that I'd forgetten I owned. And... what the deuce?! There's another nature valley bar in here?! And where the heck did all this change come from? Figures. God, you have a funny sense of humour. So I head back towards 8th and 7th. As I pass Century park, I consider stopping at Subway and getting him a meal instead of the $5, but God said, "No. Just give him the money. He needs to be shown trust, you need to honour his dignity." Ok.
Across the street, I can't see him but I suppose the police van might be blocking my view (Side rant: I am INFURIATED that our city counsel opted to increase police funding by $26 million to disperse alledgedly "intimidating" homeless persons from the down-town c-train line viscinity instead of putting the money towards something more useful and preventative like subsidized housing so people won't have to be homeless and hang around the c-train line. Run to your phone! Run, RUN, RUN to your phone... and petition the provincial government to give municipal governments the right to legislate mandatory subsidized or low cost housing for every new community being developed. Then you must call the city of Calgary and let them know you want them to mandate this. The effect of this action will be to level the playing field of development companies who may otherwise feel tempted to only produce buildings affordable to the highest bidders. It would also be helpful to reccomend a legislated cap on rent in Calgary to reduce the occurrance of people on fixed incomes being evicted from their homes because their greedy land lords decided to increase rent above a feasible level in accordance with supply and demand. A renter's board to protect the rights of renters is also advisable...more on that later. Rant over.) Aha! He is still there. Reminding myself that God will go with me and give me answers that I don't have, I approach.
"Hello again. I discovered I had more money than I thought, so I thought I'd come back and be honest." He looks at me blankly. I hand him the bill. His facial expression transforms to glee. "Sweet. Thanks!"
Ok, gird your loins, Faye. What the...? Gird your loins?! Who says that to themself? I'll gird you, ya loin. Just ask a logical question like they taught you at SEMP! "So where are you headed?"
Thus began a very interesting conversation. The traveller's name was Edward. I really did not expect that. I guess I just always had this stereotypical assumption that all street people have nick-names and/or use shortened forms of their real names. Edward is such an elegant, sophisticated, formal name. When I commented as much, Edward told me that both his younger sisters have similarly elegant names: Lauren and Heather. In an odd moment, after I wrote down the name of some Japanese food Edward highly reccomended I try when next I visited a sushi bar in my journal, Edward told me that I reminded him of Lauren, the middle child in his family. Such an odd moment of recognised universality. Lauren and Edward were very close, with growing-up experiences very similar to those I had with my siblings (ex. older brother being obnoxious and reading his younger sister's diary to make her mad).
Edward is a 27 year old street person by choice. He had been hitch-hiking across Canada for the last 7 days and was on his way to Victoria to stay with some street friends there. They had previously hitch-hiked across Canada to visit him on the East coast and to check out some punk-rock shows. Edward's world travelling began in his mid-teens, when his father took him on a business trip to Japan. Since then he has been to most of the European countries, the States, a few South American countries, and...Israel. I told him that I was going to Israel in about a week and asked what his biggest impression of the place was. After reflecting on it a moment, he replied, "The prayer. The whole place is just saturated in prayer. It's not a bad thing, it's just different and very noticeable. You can feel it, see it, hear it everywhere." Interestingly, although Edward was not a strict follower of any religion himself, the one he most associated himself with was Christianity. He had travelled to Isreal with 2 Christian friends.
When at last it was time for me to go, I asked Edward if there was anything I could pray for him. He considered a few seconds, then said, "Long life." I asked God for that plus eternal life with you. I think God will grant it. Not many people can say that they just woke up one morning and decided they didn't feel like doing hard or soft drugs anymore and are able to just quit, apart from divine intervention. But that was the experience for Edward. And he was deeply grateful that he had never become entangled with Crystal Meth while living on the streets in Edmonton- another protection by God, I believe. God has great plans for him. I hope he runs into Brenden at Freedom Camp while he's in BC, just for fun.
To wrap things up, I promised (threatened?) to say more about a rent board. This idea came from a friend I met in DC training. She just happened to pop up at the DC in the middle of my shift when I wasn't busy with a call. Our quick little catch-up chat blew me away. An apartment her family rented turned out to be so insanitary (we're talking blood, feces, fur, and urine on the floor and walls) that she and her son ended up in the hospital. When the family demanded a return of their first month's rent and damage deposit to move elsewhere, the landlord refused and the police told them there is no legal responsibility for landlords to provide a sanitary apartment. Consequently, they were left apartmentless and several hundred dollars poorer. She, her husband, and their 3 kids ended up living on the streets for a while. They are in another apartment now, paying a ridiculous amount of rent for a very small space in a not-so-great area. Both my friend and her husband are university students so they have very small incomes. There is no social support for them here since all her family is east and his family has rejected them due to the marriage being bi-racial. Her husband had a nervous breakdown and had been missing since Monday. Oh, and the calls I dealt with at the DC for 5 hours? Almost 50 % were regarding finding accomodations because the caller had either just been evicted, was going to be evicted, or were living in completely unacceptable housing. The shelters are all at full capacity right now. I don't know what else to tell people besides, "That sucks." And then I pray against greed and injustice. And I think about Edward's challenge, "You want a different perspective on life? Try living on the street for a while." And then Matthew 6:25-35 comes to trouble me again.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you
that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and is tommorow thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry,
saying, "What shall we eat?"
or "What shall we drink?"
or "What shall we wear?"
For the pagans run after these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them.
But seek first his Kindgdom
and his rightiousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore, do not worry about tommorow,
for tommorow will worry about itself.
Each day has trouble enough of its own.
If God called me to live on the streets, would I trust him to either cure me of diabetis or to provide me with all the medications I need? I don't think I'm brave enough to try yet.
So, does this one beat the others for length? We'll find out today!
