3 Things I learned after a drug bust in L.A…

I got out of the van in the secured parking lot and opened the door. As I did, I unknowingly broke up a drug deal happening right in front of me. The guys took off running, which I am thankful for since in L.A, there are many more violent responses. About ten minutes later the LAPD showed up where we were setting up to feed the homeless and busted one dealer. About a half hour later, the same thing happened. We fed the homeless for a few hours. It was a whirlwind of activity and quite an education in the human soul. Here’s a few things I learned:

1. Looking out for #1 is not original.
The reasons the guys on the streets in LA do the wrongs they do are the same reasons I do the wrongs  I do. God isn’t ranking sin – we are. Sin isn’t a word we use in our culture outside of religious circles. For readers who aren’t church goers, in essence, sin is anything we’d do that God wouldn’t.

We sin because we want what we want above all else, and whether it’s knifing someone for their purse like I saw the day before, or gossiping about someone to boost our cool-factor, it’s all about us and it’s not original. All of us sin – we are human and we can’t help it. That’s why we all are in need of a Saviour. (John 3:16, 1 John 1:9)

2. I decide tomorrow, today
When I went back across the street from the shelter where we fed about 300 homeless, I met a man named Lawrence. Lawrence was a homeless man living in a small tin shack.  It is likely none of you will never meet or know him. He was in this little room with about 8 people, telling them that with God, they could turn their lives around. He even gave them clothes when they left. He’s in the same environment yet the life he leads is one of amazing significance. We are a product of our choices, and those choices are a product of our perspective.

Our present environment does not need to determine our future. However, when we take the pain from the past or the present and forecast it into the future, there’s not much room for anything new. The future is now in default mode. We’ve already decided it and we’re moving towards it. Lawrence chose something new. Even though he lived in the same mess everyone else did around him, his life was set on a new course. A course that had a God given dream.  (Deuteronomy 30:19)

3. Sometimes it’s not about being qualified, it’s about being willing.
Later that night, after the drug busts, homeless experience and meeting Lawrence, I was asked to speak some words of encouragement to the homeless in Santa Monica and then hand out food at the pier. My life is nothing like theirs, and I felt very unqualified very quickly.

I swallowed hard and just talked for a few minutes about how God has been so real for me personally. After I finished we started feeding them. These two young guys came up to me and we spoke for some time. They made the decision to get off the streets, grabbed their small bag of belongings and joined us on the vans to come back to Dream Centre to begin a new journey in life. I didn’t feel qualified to make a difference, but I learned that on the other side of our willingness is the love and power of God.  (Romans 1:16)