Homelessness: Los Angeles’ Tourist Attraction

Whether walking through downtown Los Angeles, or shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, it is nearly impossible to travel more than five blocks without seeing a homeless individual, lying in front of a “For Lease” storefront or holding up a cardboard sign with a plea for money or food written on it in permanent marker. Even if we wanted to ignore these individuals, their shabby clothing and exhausted eyes beg to be noticed. Society has affectionately referred to them as “the homeless” as opposed to bums or hobos, which is, if we are honest, how our eyes see them.

I have crossed over to the other side of the street so that I will not have to deal with them. I see that they are having a nice conversation by themselves, with themselves, so they do not need me to interrupt their schizophrenia. Or demon possession. In addition, they smell like urine and unwashed linens, and I just took a shower last night, and do not want to catch their germs. I’d rather watch them from a distance and pity them from a distance and love them from a distance if that were even possible.

But God says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” I am not only called to get a little closer to these broken and hurting people, but God has created each and every one of them in His holy image, which makes them beautiful and worthy of love, no matter how ugly they look through my fleeting, earthly eyes. Each of them has a name and a story of why they became homeless in the first place. Perhaps it was an addiction to drugs because they could no longer cope with life. Maybe they worked hard on their jobs, became unemployed because of layoffs, and had nowhere to turn but to the streets.

On Tuesdays, weather permitting, there is a team from the Dream Center’s Hope For Homeless Youth ministry that goes down to Venice Beach each week, which is a tourist attraction for thousands of people. The sand is ripe for sunbathing and castle-building and the Pacific Ocean for getting cool and surfboarding. But the Hope for Homeless Youth team does not go down to the beach to catch the waves, but to catch souls for Jesus Christ. With cardboard boxes loaded with bags of sandwiches, snacks, and water; this team looks for “the homeless” who are being walked passed by the tourists… and they love them up close. They listen to their stories and feed them. They pray for them. Some have even come back to the Dream Center to get cleaned up and get another chance at life off of the streets.

As Christians, we are called to love like that. Maybe your city or town does not have an overwhelming homeless population the way that Los Angeles does. Maybe it is easier to avoid them, but why don’t we be like God’s children and look for that homeless man or woman or teenager who just might need a cookie and a conversation. If you’re like me, maybe the thought of it makes you a little uncomfortable, but these people are in need and our little smile or sacked lunch for them can make a huge difference. They are not hobos. They are human beings loved by God.
-Shimmy