It’s 9:30am and Max, Kevin, and Gary are here to freshen up and get the room ready. At 10:30 a car load of sack lunches arrive from a church way out in Golden. Max has already staged about twenty cups of hot coffee by the front door, and Gary is filling up a large crate full of bottles of water. Kevin has set up four power strips to charge up dozens of cell phones. Theresa is busy making extra peanut butter and jellies. Yes, these folks slept outside the night before and are now serving their unhoused peers like family.
By 10:50am a line of folks is wrapped around the building, many of who reside within an encampment of over one hundred people located just down the block. Neighbors throughout Capitol Hill are becoming increasingly restless and vocal about the growing unhoused community. It’s already pushing ninety degrees outside and the exhaustion and tension is noticeable.
Monday through Saturday we open our doors at 11am to a chorus of, “Thank God you guys are here!” Back in the early weeks of the pandemic, several other non-profits either shut down or became severely limited due to infections and vulnerabilities, but by the grace of God, we remained healthy and were actually able to ramp up our services. These days our hospitality and care come in the form of 500-700 sack lunches a week, in addition to hundreds of bottles of water, cups of coffee, hygiene products, socks, and underwear. We’ve also rented a port-a-potty for our parking lot.
The tough pill to swallow is knowing that our efforts are never enough! We have to come to terms with that. We can’t fix the problems. Will Christ cover the gaps? We’re on a journey of trusting just that. I can’t explain why or how volunteers like Karen come down twice a week with sack lunches, why a carload of bottled water just arrived from a church in Lakewood, or how a box of coffee was shipped to us at just the perfect moment.
Once our eyes adjust and we slow down to be present to reality, it becomes obvious; Christ does indeed fill in the gaps. Our energy and efforts are so important, but the recognition that the compassionate presence of Christ is among us is even more important. With that in mind, we can acknowledge that we struggle with fatigue, frustration, and doubts. It’s no secret that we live in a season full of unprecedented division, hatred, and fear. It wears on all of us.
But when I see volunteers show up with smiles and resources, or I see Zeke enthusiastically make hundreds of cups of coffee for his family on the street, I pause and think, “Wait a minute. There must be more to the story.” Perhaps the most obvious cracks in society are where the most light shines in. So when find ourselves at our lowest, keep an eye out for unlikely saints. God tends to come to us in the weirdest disguises.
Under the Mercy,
Ryan Taylor