The first night under the bridge was an intense one. (You can recap Part 1 & 2 here.) But just when I thought a cigarette kept me from getting beat up…things got even worse. As I wrote yesterday, I remember each minute of this evening and night.
After we got to sleep under the bridge by Interstate 10, we thought we were good and could relax. The woman abused was cared for at the hospital, we avoided a fight, and found our friends! Now off to sleep. However, we were not expecting what was in store early the next morning.
That next morning all the homeless sleeping by I-10 were detained by police. We were aggressively woken by police and treated very rudely. Some were arrested and some let go. I learned later from Haven for Hope outreach workers that Haven would work with police to show them encampments so they could force attendance to their shelter. I hope this practice has stopped but it was disappointing to learn. Haven, at the time, made money from grants for each client served so it was financially beneficial for outreach workers to scout, work with police to detain the homeless, and then offer Haven verses going to jail.
Again, I know Haven has made great changes and has done more than most to help the unhoused community. I really believe their current leadership are great people with amazing attention. However, if I am honest, I too have been guilty of misunderstanding our own mission and taken advantage of a good cause. I have wrongly believed that grants and fundraising are more important than our clients. I have been that guy and work to learn, listen and repent.
During this Holy Week it’s important to remember that Jesus was homeless the last three years of his life and ministry. He too was arrested on trumped up charges that were financially beneficial to some.
Please reflect on these posts from 2012 this Holy Thursday night:
Detained: Posted on : (Bridge Night #1, Part 3)
Small Change!
It’s amazing how something as simple as a smoke…can change someone’s attitude from rage and aggressive to calm and relaxed.
The night continued….
After meeting my new friends, we searched for Georgia and Jesse. We went under the bridge and could not find them. Cowboy told me that they were most likely sleeping between the two highways (in the center median) where many plants and bushes have been planted along Interstate 10. If the weather is nice…many homeless citizens sleep in between the highways in the bushes.
I called out for Georgia and Jesse and eventually found Jesse in a patch of bushes laying in his sleeping bag. (Georgia was out with his wife….who lives in a shelter near by…) Jesse allowed me to lay my bag in this area…and fall asleep. But first, I had to find something to lay on. After searching the area….I found a piece of flat styrofoam and torn tent material to lay my sleeping bag on so it would remain fairly clean and dry during the night.
I laid down in the bushes, between the highways…about 5 feet from the westbound traffic and a bridge wall. Cars and trucks were passing by constantly. It was loud…but not nearly as painful as the train horns…I could get used to the sound of the cars passing by…it was soothing in a strange way. Despite the location, it was very private. Hopefully, I would be safe from the traffic!
After laying down for a while, Jesse told me he could not sleep…so we walked around together and talked about life. I gave him a smoke. He showed me more places to stay near or under the city bridges….and after a while…we got tired, returned to our spot, and went to sleep.
The ground was hard. I had very little padding. Throughout the night my side or arm would go numb due to the hardness of the ground beneath my body. But for the most part, it was a good night sleep compared to the outdoor shelter. I could sleep as late as I wanted…and not be disturbed by an authority in the morning telling me what to do…
I was wrong.
I would get to know another type of authority that is not the staff at the outdoor shelter.
Around 7:50am…I was awakened by a boot nudging my sleeping bag and a man yelling… “Wake up…everyone up…Wake up…everyone up.”
At first, I thought is was Georgia playing a joke on us. He is known to pull pranks on his friends…but as I looked up…it was not Georgia…but 3 police officers in uniform, shorts, and boots. They were not happy to see us…
“Get up…stand up…let me see some ID,” they asked.
I was tired…and moving slowly. It was slightly confusing…but the cops didn’t care. They wanted us up and moving. I thought it might be a dream….but the cold air made it a reality. He kept telling me to move faster….and I told him “I’m moving as fast as I can…”
I got up…showed my ID to my officer, and he pulled me aside and searched my bag. He did not have a warrant…but all he found was a flashlight, underwear, toothbrush, Bible, and a pack of cigarettes. The bag was “clean.” (except the underwear) But the cop found one more thing….
My iPhone.
The cop asked me why I had an iPhone as I unlocked it and told him I owned it. He was confused. He asked me, “You can afford an iPhone?…..how?”
“I have a job” I said.
“Where do you work?” he questioned me more…
“I work at a local church near downtown…” I responded.
He was shocked and asked me if I was doing this as ministry….I said to him…”I guess you could say that.” Then the cop took my ID and got my SS# and took it to the make shift command under the bridge where the other cop cars were. The cops were a mixture of bicycle cops (the one’s who grabbed us out of the area along the highway) and patrol cars (the one’s gathering info).
Another cop escorted us out of the bushes and made us stand along the wall….in a line….and wait to be called over to the police car (or interviewed by the main officer).
Here is the strange thing that I did not notice the night before….there were more homeless people sleeping in the bushes (near or under the bridge) than I thought— about 30 in my area. (The police raided the entire I-10 stretch that morning…along with some other smaller bridges…many of my friends got detained by the police that morning.) At my spot, it was like the baseball players coming out of the corn fields in the movie Field of Dreams. (Check out the photo.)
We waited by the wall for quite sometime. One by one we were questioned and given a warning for trespassing. Some people in the bushes were in more trouble than others…(drug use, etc.) …although I saw no one arrested and taken away to jail.
Most of my friends gave the cops fake names and SS#’s because they refused to be searched without a warrant. I gave the cops my ID because they saw my wallet in the sleeping bag…and I had little fear of my police record. The cops took your information and placed you on a city list that shows you have been detained and been given a warning for trespassing. (Although there are no signs and information stating this.)
Trespassing is the crime. It does not hold much water in court. However, many of the homeless cannot afford good lawyers to help them fight the vagueness of the ordinance.
I asked an officer “Who owns the bridge?”….and the cop told me….”The State of Texas.”
I thought that was a funny response. I even chuckled at their reasoning of ownership. They also told me “vagrants, the homeless, and bums” cause many problems in this community. It seems so simple….but it’s not. I wanted to tell the cops that their names were actually Georgia, Jesse, Blake, William, Robert, Jackson, Bolton, and Samantha….but I use the same language too. We all do. Dang you, hypocrisy!
Nevertheless, it begs us to question this idea: When we talk about “issues of the streets”….we are talking about problems beyond just homelessness…there are gangs, basic criminals, mailmen, and teenagers on that list too. Most of these citizens have actual homes. They are not always homeless…But who takes most of the heat?
Most of these homeless are just trying to find a place to sleep…with freedom.
They pulled me aside and asked me more about where I lived….(They saw on my ID that I lived only a few blocks away). I don’t know if they believed it…but I was not too concerned about what they thought. I was telling the truth.
After they put me on the “black list,” I was told to pack my things and walk back to the outdoor shelter that is run by the city. I began to wonder…”Was that the main reason for the raid….to get us back in the shelter? Where they can control our actions?
It’s a complex issue.
The cops were tough…but they had grace. Nobody got into too much trouble. (Nevertheless, many of my homeless friends have a much stronger opinion about the matter.) They have good points…but I am still discerning the event that took place Tuesday morning by the I-10 bridge.
If there is a next time…I will be arrested or given a ticket and made to go to court.
Now, off to church…as a pastor working in the same neighborhood where the bridge exists.
End of first night under the bridge.
(This issue has been hard to write about…and has taken me a week to put down on paper. And I will most likely make adaptations to it throughout the next few days. This problem of homelessness in cities is multifaceted… Both sides of the argument have good points.
Position A. Homelessness is annoying, unclean, and possibly dangerous. It leads to other civil problems and creates issues for local businesses and tourism. It is not a good “image” for the city. It also is attached to drugs, alcohol, and sex….(but so is High School…but we still have that!)
Position B. Making homelessness a crime on public land goes against basic freedom and liberty. It can be unlawfully inforced and people can be prosecuted with no means to hire good lawyers.
Position C. Is there a more creative way to use the Gospel to handle both A & B?
Questions….please don’t be afraid to post your opinion…. I won’t get my feelings hurt!
I want to hear from YOU! So comment now!!!!!
Main Qurstion ***Why do you think many of the homeless choose to live under bridges or in other places around the city streets?***
1. What do you think of the trespassing law….and how Texas is the “owner” of the land?
2. Why do you think the police are enforcing the “law?” Should they in this way?
3. Why do the police wait until the morning to detain the homeless vs the night before?
4. How has homelessness affected your neighborhood, place of business, and church?
5. Can the police search my bag without a warrent?
6. How do we often direct and control “vagrancy” in our cities?
7. Do you believe the city creates stricter laws if there are non-profits in the city (that reach out to homeless) so they can advance their agenda of redirecting homeless behavior?
Ezekiel 22:29-31: Posted on
The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.”
Jesus: Posted on
Matthew 8:20–“But Jesus said to him: “Foxes have dens and birds of heaven have roosts, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay down his head.’”
Jesus was homeless. At least for three years he had no “home” to speak of… He traveled a lot. Gleaned food from farms and spoke kindly of the poor.
Jesus was homeless.
It was not because he was lazy, mentally ill, crazy, or criminal… He had a calling. To give it all up! To become a man. To experience life with us, who are the lowest of the low compared to his own divinity. Born not in a home…or inn…but a stable.
God became homeless.
Jesus had 12 guys follow him around the land with no real place to lay their heads. These 12 were not the best students in town…but more like the worst. They were Fisherman who could not even cast nets properly….A Tax Collector nobody liked…a zealot…common workers…and a traitor.
They all gave up their jobs (and families) to follow Jesus. They became homeless to follow our Lord… To experience life together… they remained homeless until death. There was no earthly end to their lent. Most, if not all, died as Martyrs.
They should have written a book about it.
Seriously, how would we treat Jesus today? Where would he sleep? Where would he glean? How would he be arrested? Who would get mad at him? Who would come to his aid?
Matthew 25:34-35 “Then the King will say to those at His right, ‘Come, my Father’s blessed ones, receive your inheritance of the Kingdom which has been divinely intended for you ever since the creation of the world. For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when I was thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was homeless, you gave me a welcome.’”
He reminded us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. There is a church who allow people to live in it… now that is hearing and then doing.
My church leaders always say our large building “sits begging” for use most nights. How about allowing people to sleep there who are in need?
There’s tons of space…That goes begging.
Leviticus 19:9-10 “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.”
Matthew 12:1 “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them…”
How do we, like the farmers, as blessed people recognize what is enough and give back the remainder?
We need to make more room.
Not create less space.
It’s all God’s anyway.
We need to follow Christ.
Not just know about Him.
We need to experience life together…
Even if that means becoming homeless.
Pastor Gavin's Blog 
I really enjoyed the glimpse of your Lenten journey blog…thank you for sharing.
Great food for thought.
Alyssa