Author: Kallee, serving on staff with Kaleo Portland

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). I feel like I have had the kinds of life experiences that give me the ability to understand the beauty of the first part of that verse and I am able to do so fairly well. However, I feel as though I have never been exposed to such opportunity to do the latter as I have working with Kaleo.

There have been many opportunities to do so sitting with those who are or have been homeless, abused, and filled with shame and regret because so many of these people I sit down with are more raw, honest, and vulnerable than anyone else I have ever talked to. They tell me their deepest hurts and pains, and most of the time I know that there aren’t many things that I can do. I can provide some things – some food, some water, some connections to resources, etc. – but I can’t solve all their problems. I can’t make them healthy. I can’t take away the addictions they have that box them in. I can’t give them long-lasting shelter and food supply. I can’t do everything. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do anything. I can mourn with those who mourn and that means more to people than we might think.

One Thursday evening I went on a prayer walk with 2 adults and 4 young girls with the missions team we had in from the Bay area that week. We spent most of our evening praying over the city as we walked, stopping as we went along to pray out loud together over the city. Towards the end of our walk we ended meeting a guy named Matt. We chatted with him a bit, gave him some socks, and prayed for him with his permission. After our prayer, everyone was quiet yet no one moved to leave – not Matt, nor us. It probably seemed weird but there was something about everyone staying as they were that made sense too. Matt was looking down and he had his hand over his face like he was crying. He made no motion to shoo us away but I still wondered if he wanted to be alone. Right as I was about to motion for us to leave, he looked up with tears in his eyes and down his face. He didn’t look upset that we were still there so we stood there a moment longer. Then he began to talk and we listened. Matt had been in Portland for over 25 years and been homeless for a decent chunk of time. He has a group of people he sometimes spends time with but they aren’t really friends. He has had many serious health concerns lately, as he has battled hypothermia even in the middle of July and dealt with a bad infection. He told us about that morning when he had woken up to find his friends gone as well as his jacket and backpack with everything he owned – including his important medication. He had spent 4 hours that day checking trash cans all around the city in hopes of finding his backpack abandoned there with some of his belongings but had no luck. We listened intently and said we were sorry. What else could we say? I think we all wished there was more that we could do but I think Matt knew full well that we couldn’t fix everything and was okay with a listening ear – or seven.

We asked him if he was hungry and he told us he hadn’t eaten anything all day. Immediately as he said this, every single member of the team started digging in their bags for any food they could find. Their efforts totaled to 3 granola bars, an orange, and 2 water bottles. Matt was so grateful. I asked him if he knew about the resources around Portland and he said he knew of some but not all of them surely. The team got me a piece of paper and a pen, and I wrote down every ministry I knew of, where they were located, and what they offered. Some were ones he knew of but others were new leads and he was grateful that I took the time and energy to connect him to them. We were able to serve him with our resources and that was incredible. Even greater though, we were able to serve him with our presence and our willingness to mourn with him. At the end of our conversation, one of our quieter girls on the team said “Matt, I don’t think it was a coincidence that we met tonight” and he said he didn’t think so either. He explained that he had been convinced that not one single person cared for him but now he knew of seven. We told him that even though we didn’t know him we loved him as our brother, a man made in the image of Christ. He said a lot of people say that but he knew that we really meant it and he said he loved us too.

That night we didn’t say anything profound. We didn’t give Matt or anyone else a home or a life-time free of trouble by any means. But because we know Jesus, we brought that man hope and we brought him our friendship and we mourned with him as he mourned and we rejoiced with him as he rejoiced and we served him with the resources we could.