Getting to Know Skid Row

Skid row. It has made national news, it’s been the subject of movies. Prostitution and drugs gone ramped; Skid Row is the real deal. Coming from a small town in southern Ohio, I was not sure exactly what to expect on my visit. I really don’t think I was scared at all, I tend to become oblivious to that sometimes. Though I don’t want to only attribute naivety for the way I felt, I think my excitement to sit and talk with some of the most hopeless people in LA helped; I wanted to show them real Jesus love!

As we got closer to the streets of Skid Row, you could see a visible decline in the neighborhoods. And even before the van stopped at our destination, I knew we had arrived. Clumps of people lined the streets, mostly sitting or pushing all they owned, in carts. The men started unloading the food from the trucks we drove in. My job was now to socialize. It was my second day interning for the Dream Center and I’m not the most outgoing, so it took a bit of mental preparation to go out and talk with these people one-on-one. But after diving in, I wanted to talk with each and everyone there. The stories were heartbreaking, and when words were short, the look on the faces of these people broke my heart even more. I often asked (as did the other interns) if they would like prayer. Some would reply no, but most jumped to the opportunity.

One lady in particular touched my heart while we prayed. Her name was Don. She was a frail, middle-aged woman. She told me of the life she lived, filled with prostitution, drug use, physical and mental abuse. Her eyes were heavy from lack of sleep and nutrition. Her story was sad, she was lonely and looking for happiness in the abusive men around her and I told her only God can fill that void. I took her dirty hand and we prayed. She wanted God, I could feel her desire to turn from the mess she was in. We both cried as I asked God to deliver her from this life. We ended the prayer and I told her I would continue to pray for her well-being. She thanked me again and again. And that, my friend, is exactly what it’s all about. It’s about showing Christ’s love to the people that society says don’t deserve it, “They’ve done it to themselves.” Sure, maybe they have! But it’s only by God’s Grace that we are not in their exact position. ALL good comes from God. That means any good in our life is not only our doing. So why condemn others for not having “good?” It’s not condemning we are called to do, nor unconcern we should feel, it is the loving. And what greater way to show that than talking one-on-one with the most hopeless people of LA? Granted, we all are in desperate need of Him, but their needs are tangibly life threatening. And as members of the body of Christ, we should be the hands that hold theirs in the prayer that changes their life.

-Courtnay