I can’t say that I wasn’t nervous and reluctant when I was asked to spend a night on the streets in Harrisburg to get the experience of what it is actually like to live on the streets. But I’m very glad that I took a leap of faith and decided to do it. I was definitely not ready for what I was about to experience. Mentally I didn’t know exactly what to expect and physically I had no idea what it would be like. Even though I have been going into Harrisburg on Friday nights for a while now and I have seen how they eat and sleep, but it’s a different story when you’re the one who has to eat and sleep on the street.
Our journey started at 9:30 last night when we left Messiah with nothing but the clothes on our back, sleeping bags, a Bible, and some faith. I was able to see some of the people I have building relationships with for a couple weeks but I met someone new, someone who was a true blessing. His name is Greg and we got to talking and I decided to take him out for pizza at a nearby shop. I truly believe that he is a saved man and a strong Christian. He told us his story and we got to talk to him about the issues that deal with homelessness. We were able to ask him why it’s a problem and what leads to people living on the street. He told us that probably 90-95% of homelessness is self-induced. Poor decisions in life lead their poor situation. Also he was explaining that the mindset of the people are the real problem, they need a transformation of the mind. But there was one analogy that sticks in mind. He gave the story of Humpty Dumpty and how he shattered and couldn’t be put back together. That’s how a lot of these people’s lives are. Their lives have been shattered by tragedy and they were either stricken down and are in the stage of rebuilding what they have lost or they took to drugs or alcohol to get over their tragedy and now are stuck in addiction. But no matter what the issue the largest problem is the mindset of the people living on the street. I see a lot of people are on the street for only a short time and have the motivation to get off the street and get back on their feet. Others either have an addiction or not motivation. Our goal is to give them motivation and bring them hope through the gospel.
But after we ate some pizza we headed back to the church where a lot of the homeless sleep in downtown Harrisburg and set up our sleeping bags and got ready to sleep. It was a very interesting night to say the least. First thing is that sleeping on concrete is not fun, and second is that 45 deg is not very warm. Let’s just say that I didn’t sleep very well and there were many times when I wanted to just go back to school. Isaac who was with me was thinking the same thing but I’m glad that we stuck it out and stayed until morning. In the morning we got up early because we couldn’t sleep anymore and decided to go and try to warm up. So me and Isaac walked to the train station and went inside for a little bit and got some coffee. We then headed back and decided to wait for everyone else to get up. When Greg got up we packed up our stuff and walked to a Methodist church that served breakfast on Sunday mornings and got to experience what it was like to accept a handout meal. It’s a very interesting feeling. After finishing eating and going back to the church we slept outside of we went down to a fellowship hall found out when they had services. We found out there was a Korean service at 9:30 and decided to go. Isaac was able to help translate for us but it was a very interesting experience. It was a very cool experience and one leaving us wondering how we can make the best impact for Christ in Harrisburg.
We have a couple ideas that might help homeless people gain hope in Christ and get motivated to get out of their situation. The main thing that we need to keep in mind is that we are trying to build relationships and we are not just giving handouts. But a way that we can help these people may be through helping individuals get back to school and get a useful degree in a field where there are jobs or maybe start a sponsor a homeless person type program. Something that would work like sponsor a child but instead help an individual on the street to get housing and temporarily support them while building a relationship with them to help them get going in the right direction. These are just some ideas that we have at the moment and don’t really know the details of where to go with these ideas but it’s a starting point and a vision of where our mission could go.
Please continue to pray for the people of Harrisburg and the homeless situation.
Andrew Breighner
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