Dee just tapped me on the shoulder... but it always startles me when someone comes up behind me on the streets... I snapped around and saw his stick thin frame, wrapped in a tight shirt and he sported a scrawny beard We've been friend's a long time and he doesn't come out to the line much any more... getting older. We hugged, I tried not to squeeze too hard, he felt almost frail, laughing and catching up- David, pictured above, began to sing... brought back so many cool old memories of so many good nights on the streets. David does his own thing now: evangelistic work in China and still working on the streets when he can, we were blessed to have him drop in. He began like he did for so many hundreds of Sunday nights across the years, proudly belting out: "Jesus, Jesus! He is Lord!" Dee laughed and wandered away, older guys in line started reminiscing... telling old "David" stories, while younger people just asked who the guy in the blue suit was? David and I are different: I serve in shorts and a t-shirt- he wears a navy blue suit, I wander through the line and chat with guys, snapping photos, emailing them home, sharing the phone, bunches of one on one stuff- he leads us in worship; in English, Spanish, traditional and choruses... We've learned to love and respect each other across the years and it felt like a special grace just to hear him sing among us for one more summer's night. Everyone on the streets use to call me Eric... it's really what I prefer... but across the years it's pretty much come down to pastor... don't even know how it started... last night it felt like church that Jesus would want to be a part of and it humbled me no end each time someone called me "Pastor." Even still, after all these years... Some nights I just feel blessed beyond measure to share any small part of Jackets for Jesus. Last night was definitely one of those nights and it was good to share it with old friends.

Love this picture. Don't know these kids too well but look at their joy in the middle of so dark a night. Last night might have been the first time I met the two young women. Friendly, easy to talk with, obviously have fought some really tough battles... I look forward to getting to know them better in the months to come, to hearing their stories, they came to the line invited by the young man in the striped shirt. He's been coming out for a couple of months now. Each week he wants to talk a little and then almost always will say: "Pastor, will you pray with me?" And then he'll tell me about a friend in danger, an apartment he hopes to get, his arm that was horribly broken... we step out of line, I lay a hand on his shoulder and pray out loud. He's never embarrassed and no one does anything more than to occasionally take off their cap, reach out an arm to set it on my shoulder, to lift up the need. The kid wasn't even born when we first went to the streets... blows my mind... now we're serving him in poverty and he's bringing his friends like a new convert! God is too good. The guy in the blue shirt recently had both of his hands removed from casts- he told me part of the story last night -the kind of both hands broken in violence story that needs to stay on skid row. A really nice young man- in a different setting he might be a junior in college, just planning his senior year and hoping to jump into the job market with a degree behind him. Instead, he's one of thousands living on the streets in the heart of our city. Friendly, a quick and ready smile, seems smart to me... looking at all 4 of them I just see young people hoping, praying, trying to stay alive, to keep smiling until there's a way out. Join me in praying for an answer... for these four specifically and for the greater issues of poverty and abandonment among our youth in general. Great big churches with great big budgets will never spend a dime to reach these young people. Yet they risked their lives in the middle of the night to share a meal and hang out with us... right where a young woman's body had been found just the day before... brutally murdered, robbed from her family, her hopes, her dreams... such a horrible waste: a young woman murdered, these four left on the streets as if they're forgotten... God knows. God sees. It was good to be with them last night- if just for a little while. They need so much more than our brief visit. Pray it can be a first step into a better life for each of them.

The Twins- that's what they're called on the streets -for obvious reasons. I've met each of them independent of the other- think last night was the first time I finally had the chance to meet them together. They've quickly become almost urban legend among the residents of skidrow. The story usually goes like this: "One of the twins is pretty cool. But the other one... you've got to watch out for the other twin... he can be mean!" Most people play a part in the small community of poverty and I'm guessing one of these guys quickly found a "job" that doesn't always make him the best of friends with all the other guys. Standing before me I was struck at just how much the two of them not only looked alike, but at 35, seemed to really enjoy being brothers... being together. Approaching me, they asked if I'd take their picture- that's it. Wanting to get to the bottom of all the stories, once they'd seen their image on my phone, I simply asked: "Which one of you guy's is the bad twin?" Not having a clue what kind of reaction I was going to get it was such fun when they immediately responded with a well rehearsed "brother" kind of answer. Wrapping their arms around each other's necks, pointing at the other with fingers that looked like they'd gladly accepted the other since birth, in unison they responded: "He is!" Laughter, starting with their own, quickly broke the night. I wondered if when Jodi had shopped for her chicken alfredo, she'd had these two in mind? If when Evelyn drove into Riverside to work long into the night, she'd ever imagined a pair like this? If when Bart or Phil, pushed themselves out the door they thought they'd wrap up their night serving the twins? I thought of Robert and Beatrice... who for so many years have served as an example to us all- almost never missing a night -and knew they'd serve them both- all of our workers would greet each of them as if they were greeting Jesus Himself. It's the story I told last night when a brand new guy about my age finally made it to the front of the line and asked me: "Why do you call it Jackets for Jesus?" And I got to tell the story again... thinking about all the characters that we're called on to love. There's a joy in serving that's discovered no where else in life. Too many experts have missed The Message. Without leaving campus every Urban Study program will fail. We've been blessed. You can find it in the heart of Los Angeles on any Sunday night with Jackets for Jesus. God's opened an amazing door for us and we plan on remaining faithful. We're going this Sunday night, You're Invited. You're Needed. Now, more than ever.

for changing lives,

Eric M. Denton

PS

Got a cool new phone number for the homeless of skidrow to reach Jackets for Jesus with- it was FREE - give it a try: 213.915.HOPE 213 is the area code for Los Angeles and HOPE... well that's what we want to be all about.