We were serving homeless people through TOP’s Street Ministry in a little plaza at 21st St and Virginia Avenue in DC. It was directly across the street from the State Department. The plaza was surrounded by a low wall with some bushes on the Virginia Avenue side. The bushes made the little plaza a desirable place to hang out because they were a perfect place for the homeless guys to stash their worldly possessions.
As we carried our stuff to the park, we walked by a man passed out on the sidewalk. My wife took his picture as we quietly walked past him. We didn’t want to wake him up. I planned to bring him a hot dog, water and some chips as soon as we set stuff down in the plaza.
Less than 2 minutes later, I returned with the food only to discover he was gone. I didn’t see him anywhere. He couldn’t have walked past us without us noticing. Even though there was a clear view for quite a distance on all sides, he was nowhere to be found. He just disappeared.
The incident left me scratching my head. He must have gotten up as soon as we were out of sight and left the area at a rapid pace. Over 30 years later, I still feel that encounter had a special meaning. I’m just not quite sure what it was. Maybe God’s reason for all of this was to show us how far homeless life can pull you down. It was a sad sight to behold.
All I know is this: it stirred up my compassion to see somebody in such a sad state of affairs. Even three decades later, this picture reminds me that God still has work for His people to do. There are countless acts of mercy and kindness we can carry out for the last, the least, the lost, the lonely, and the left out.