"what are those sores all over their faces?"

the last Wednesday of the month and the days following are always such a dark season.

welfare Wednesday.

i was amazed again, at how different the streets are during that time.
all the dealers come out (they're always out, but more so this week), and everybody is tweaking out. it's intense.

perfect timing to bring 45 teens from small town northern BC to come and visit.

i was giving a group of them a tour right down skid row-- showing them the sights, trying to answer a sweet, chatty 13 year old boy who kept asking questions like, "what are those clear pipes everyone is sucking on?" or "why is that lady dancing?" or "why doesn't anyone have teeth?"
i don't want to answer those things! i know it's meant to be educational, but man!-- he learned a lot yesterday.

when you see young, clean, healthy-looking people walking down the street in massive packs, you know they're Christians. no doubt. this is a fairly regular occurrence, and it gets a lot of reaction.
"what, are you going to try and save me?! your God isn't real so f--- off!"
"oh look at the cute Christians kids! welcome to the real world."
"do you like my neighborhood? this is where you end up if you're really screwed up."

something in me (my Camden, New Jersey inbred longing for street credibility) wanted to separate myself and say, "oh, i live down here, i'm just giving them a tour..." but i know that they couldn't tell me apart from the others.

one man in rock alley told us off. he saw a crowd approaching and figured it was a perfect opportunity to start giving a speech. despite his street appearance, he had very refined English. most of what he said made no sense to me, but some of it sunk in deeply:
"mothers and fathers, why are you bringing your children down here against their own will? to show them the freak show? it's patronizing and wrong."

my neighbors, many of whom are my friends, feel like they are in a zoo, and that all the "normal people" are coming down to gawk at how messed up they are.
that's their experience with Christianity. either they get stared at, or preached at. very enticing, i'm sure.

sigh.

conversational whiplash:

i have inherited, from my mother, a double portion of Thrift Store anointing. i claimed that generational blessing years ago, and i'm seeing the fruit of it. :o)

i was walking past Value Village yesterday morning, and the Lord told me that if i would go in there, He was going to provide me with a red jacket.
so i went in, and came out a few minutes later with a sweet, blood red jacket, for $7.99 CDN. nice.

figured i'd end on that happy note of retail therapy, rather than leave you to think about the damage that short term mission trips do to a neighborhood, and to the missionaries who are fighting for it. more comfortable.