LA and back

Yes Dorothy we really are in the United States









It has been almost a month since we have returned from LA. I am still at a loss for words. I am not sure that words will ever communicate what we saw. Of course we had a few good laughs at the expense of some of the youth but the biggest one being Robbie meeting someone from another planet.

With all the memories rolling around in my mind it is still hard to imagine what we really experienced. It does make one realize how fortunate we are and yet how easily everything can be lost. I am not necessarily talking about material things but things such as security and the very basics like dignity. But with all that being said, the one thing I learned was the fact that our time, I mean our day to day time is soo valuable. Not only to the ones that are closest to us but also the Lord himself.

It is so hard to understand the layout of LA. It is amazing to be in the city that has so many financial connections but two blocks from the financial district there are people sleeping in the streets, people who do have anything to call their own. In parts of LA you can look around and see not one word in English. And the gang tags-- that is a whole different story.

Some gang tags that we saw would have peoples names xed out with a smile beside it. I do not claim to interrupt the tags but could it be that there was a "hit" on the person and it had been accomplished noted by the smile. The price of human life is not worth a lot in LA.

My first reaction to LA was that I wondered ..still wonder how the problem of homelessness can be erased. Did you know that there are security officers in LA that keep people in the area of skid row. However, the people that live on skid row leave every morning at 6:00 so that the businesses can open. The people wonder the streets just like you and me. Some of them nap in the parks,eat at McDonalds, and push their babies in strollers. Research states that if a women lives on Skid Row within two weeks she will be raped. The research said nothing about female children I can only imagine ... no I really don't want to imagine.

I guess the one thing that keeps come back to me almost haunts me at night is the fact that those females are people. Breathing, loving, God fearing people... could that be me one day. Lord I pray not but in reality they are people like us.

I know that this experience has changed the way I view our country, how I will spend my money, the way I pray and the way I live life. I pray that I will not take things for granted and I pray that all of us will join together to pray for those that don't have even the little we do have, and who have faced sufferings that we can not imagine. God is with the poor and He is with us if we are with them.
Matthew 25:31-46