The main rules I established were that I would not sleep overnight at the home of anyone I knew, anyone who was in any way connected to me, or anyone that knew that I had recently graduated from Wheaton College. I slept in many places, from shelters, to outside, to train depots, to less reputable locations such as the apartment of a prostitute one night.
While my homeless journey began upon arrival into O'haire, I had a wonderful time in Honduras immediately prior, leading an Orphan Helpers team.
I planned my arrival in Chicago in the early morning, with an ETA of 8 AM, so that I would have plenty of time to make the long hike to a sleeping bag that I had shipped to a friend of mine (Dan Parvin) less than 20 miles from O'Hare. I encountered some major unscheduled delays. First, there were emails to the Orphan Helpers team that I had just led that were urgent that needed to be attended to, taking away time from my proposed initial journey. Most of the emails were taken care of while I was still in the airport.
A homeless man approached me as I was emailing my team. I gave him most of my food, lightening my load for the long journey ahead of me, and knowing that God could replenish my food with ease. When I shared that this was my first day of homelessness, he said that it was rough and dangerous. I replied that whether we are in the twin towers, or on the streets, the Lord numbers our days, and in the meantime, the best place to be in life is where God wants you to be, whether homeless or in a palace. Soon after, I left the airport.
One of my missions in Honduras was to map out an orphanage. This map was going to be used in a presentation in Washington within the week, and I had told the executive director of Orphan Helpers that I would get it to him ASAP. At first I thought that it would be fine to wait a day or 2 regarding this, but I changed my mind a few hours into the hike, wanting to be more a man of integrity. This was to be my second major delay, taking hours of my time. I looked up/GPSed where the nearest library was where I could scan the variant maps etc. To my surprise, it was within sight of where I was, right along the path, maybe 100 yards ahead of me.
Even amidst homelessness, beauty, in many forms, remains. Even amidst having practically nothing by U.S. standards, I still had so much. I had my mind, I had my senses, I had my Life, Love was omnipresent, and there was so much more! Whether captivated by the beauty of a sunset, the aroma of flowering trees in the Spring, or the purity found in a glimpse of a life of Love, beauty is all over creation, if we will only take the time to notice. Beauty has the capability of enhancing in focus when we are surrounded by those things that the world would call ugly, whether the dust unsettled while walking along a worn path, or a life lacking material abundance. With beauty, like many things, contrast has the potential of presenting new found clarity. I took these along the journey from O'haire soon before nightfall of day 1:
It was March in Chicago, and it would have been too cold for me to sleep outside that night.
as nightfall approached, due to my delays, I had a long ways to go before I reached my sleeping bag. I sought to give the situation to the Lord, praising His Name whether He was going to provide another way, or have me walk til 2 AM. As I sought to abide in Him, God blessed me with the former option in a highly unlikely way.
A black man of maybe 40 passed by me, then stopped about 50 yards away, waiting at the train tracks for the train to arrive. Without me saying a thing, he called out to me, "Hey, do you know where any shelters are?" I replied, "Nah man, I wish I did!" He then proceeded to tell me that he had just left a shelter, that he had left an empty mat, and that the steeple of the church was within sight of where he was standing. If I got there in time, I might be able to finish my walk to Wheaton, where my friend Dan with the sleeping bag was, the next day.
I spoke with the man who had just come from the shelter, and he shared of his addiction to crack, the primary factor keeping him on the streets. He spoke of crack as something utterly uncontrollable, far more so than marijuana or alcohol that he had done prior to crack. Crack combined with divorce and a lost job had put him on the streets to begin with years ago. I was able to share with him some things, including the blessing that he was to me that night, before he left on the train.
After he left on the train, I began to literally dance with joy and shout aloud, "Praise Jesus! Jesus is alive!" The statistical improbability of it all demonstrated once more that He was clearly watching over me, and blessing me abundantly! Many will find such activity ludicrous, but I believe that Scripture should be our standard rather than cultural precedent, as I find true when examining passages such as Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Psalm 69, and Romans 12:2. Whether we think God is telling us something, or read something written by a person we trust, think something is true, or hear it from the pulpit, we should be testing matters with Scripture. I hope that those reading examine those passages that I am citing. The Bereans in Acts 17:11 were considered noble for testing the Word to see if what Paul said was true. We will never hear from someone like Paul, the author of more books of the Bible than any man that ever lived. How much more should we test those beliefs with Scripture from those that have never experienced life with Christ in as sweet of a fashion as Paul of Tarsus? Specifically in this case, I encourage you to examine 2 Samuel 6:14-23 to find David dancing wholeheartedly before the Lord while suffering scorn from his own wife for the lack of dignity inherent in his actions. Culturally there is a high level of callousness for things of the Lord that we are taught, even in many churches, to keep up. When I danced for joy, I was compelled to do so by the abundance in my heart and the chains of culture broken, even if only for a short while in this regard.
I then made my way to the shelter, signed in, took a shower, and was in bed only a minute after the shelter no longer accepted most people coming in from the outside. This occurred in the perfect timing that God so loves to utilize as a further demonstration of His hand at work.
As today was the 16th, I read Psalms 16 and Proverbs 16 after lights out, on my mat. It was so wonderful to be blessed once more right before I slept with passages that "just so happened" to be highly pertinent to the events of my first day of homelessness. Psalm 16 begins, “1 Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge..."
It continued to speak directly into my situation, more so than most outside observers could realize. Here are some tidbits:
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
As I knew that it was from the Giver of Life, I knew that even this call to homelessness truly was a "delightful inheritance", not merely a sacrifice, but indeed favor given by the grace of God.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Even amidst homelessness, I knew that there would be much joy, already confirmed earlier today, as Christ/Love would be there wherever I went.
Proverbs 16 has a few things I'd like to share as well: 8. Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. 16 How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!
I had wondered for months whether God wanted me to have a Blackberry Tour or not, the nicest phone I've ever owned, the GPS of which I used to a large degree that first day. He answered me on the second day, when the screen broke that morning (while still encased in its side holster)! While I had initially planned otherwise, after my screen broke the second day, and after some prayer, I also felt that I should not carry bag, wallet, or other things (some that I had had shipped there, and others that I took from Honduras), including a fully waterproof bag, maps, pocket knife, -50 degree rated boots, etc.
By providence, I had obtained another cheaper Verizon phone freely in the previous August through my friend Jenna Wilharm, and was among the items shipped. I ended up using this phone for calls and texts. I had shipped an old Alltell Blackberry Curve that would perform variant smart phone functions (calendar, notes, music, contacts, etc. without GPS or internet) without being connected to the Verizon network.
I stashed my belongings with friends Dan Parvin (who I shipped items to originally) and Josh Walton (the first friend I saw after making the decision to carry no bags, who "just happened" to have plenty of extra storage space for my stuff in a storage area), and carried Bible, journal, phones, chargers, ID, coat, toothbrush, travel toothpaste, etc. in my pockets alone starting day 2.
A series of sweetness flowed from there.
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