By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

I recently moved to Greensboro in hopes of getting to know people in the communities surrounding UNCG and to begin pursuing homeless ministry. I am starting to write about the people I met and the moments we share in hopes of recording what happens as we look towards building community together.

Yesterday, Philip and I, a friend from UNCG, were able to walk to a local nonprofit organization called the Hive for their weekly community meal held each Thursday called Food Not Bombs [FNB]. FNB believes food is a right, not a privilege and uses donated food from the community or food from the dumpsters of local stores. The food served is much healthier than what a lower income family can normally afford on their own. Yesterday the menu included salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, squash, vegan mashed potatoes, egg salad, Panera bread, a fruit mix including apples, peaches, mangos, and other fruits, and lima beans. As Philip and I walked to the Hive, we met two homeless men, one of which we were unfamiliar with and one we had already met before. The first man we met was a white middle aged man named David. He was standing on the sidewalk by a busy intersection close to campus. We stopped and introduced ourselves and invited him to come eat with us at FNB. As we invited him, he began to tell us a little about himself. He has been living in the woods for 12 years and was very open in sharing that he was an alcoholic. He told us that he stands by his light pole [he has little tidbits , glasses, and branches that decorate the light pole he stands beside each day] until he can make enough money to buy three meals each day at Wendys, which is just across the intersection from where he stands, and money to buy a 12 pack of beer and a pack of cigarettes. After he receives enough money to buy his food, beer, and cigarettes he proceeds to go back to his home in the woods. He told us he doesn’t stay out after dark because people have tried to rob him of what little money he has and he proceeded to tell us about how crack and other drugs make the streets dangerous. He showed us his permit he has to have in order to stand on the sidewalk and hold his sign; he had to go to the police station and prove to the department that he is homeless before he could even stand with his sign. It was really moving to see how honest and welcoming David was to Philip and I; he was moved to tears at just our company and told us he loved us. After we left David, we kept walking until we met Michaelo, a homeless black man we had met from a couple nights before. After sharing fellowship with friends in Glenwood last Friday [we meet and shared worship and prayer with several friends that live in Glenwood, which is a lower income, high crime neighborhood],  Philip and I came across Michaelo in the dark near campus. He asked Philip why he wasn’t on the southside and told us his people were sick and needed prayer, so we stopped and began to pray for his sister, whom he said was sick with a heart condition, but abruptly Michaelo stopped us from praying and starting acting weird , wanting me to be in the middle, which we think he was trying to get me alone. We think he has a mental problem, but we both got scared and left quickly, telling him we had to get back to campus. It was disheartening seeing our fear take over us that quickly. But then again yesterday, we see Michaelo from a distance as we are walking to the Hive and recognize him as the man from last Friday night. We cross the street and greet him, reintroducing ourselves and invite him to dinner. As Philip was talking to Michaelo, I just looked at him and at his eyes, to be honest it was quite scary still, I’m not sure if it was from our previous encounter, but I still felt uncomfortable with him. He asked us to pray for him again, this time allowing us to finish our prayer and continue walking, only after stopping us several times, yelling, reminding me to pray for him as well. After leaving Michaelo we pass by a house in the neighborhood and that two wooden posts on each side of their walkway with fake human skulls on each post and a skeleton sign on the door warning no trespassing; it looked eerily like Halloween. Two signs beside each skull declared “NOTHING HERE IS WORTH YOUR LIFE” and “TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT.” It was obvious the neighborhood had problems. When we finally get to the Hive, we help cook dinner and serve dinner at 6. Most, if not all, the people are from the community and come to enjoy a free meal and met with each other. It was amazing to sit down and eat dinner with hardly anyone I had ever met before and be able to listen and share with each other, as community is supposed to be. After dinner, Philip and I helped wash up dishes, and then we prepared two plates to bring back two each of our friends we met on the way there. We didn’t see Michaelo, but we did met a man who said he hadn’t been homeless but for two weeks, and we gave him a plate. We came back to meet David at his lightpole and gave him his plate, when we saw what we had done, he started to cry and say I love you. It was a really touching moment to see him respond in such a way to strangers he had just met earlier. Along with David, his best friend Mo was there as well. Philip had actually meet Mo from last year and shared dinner with him in Glenwood where our friends live. It was great to see Philip and Mo reconnect and share with each together. Mo is from Africa and obviously very intelligent. It was great to see two people like David and Mo, different in backgrounds and education, to be so close to one another. David asked us to pray for him and we all put our arms around each other and prayed in a circle, asking God to heal David’s lung cancer and to help him overcome his alcoholism.  It was such a blessed night and a great beginning to this year. I look forward to meeting David, Mo, and Michaelo again and hopefully sharing a meal with them, being able to hear their full stories and learn from them.