THE PERSON IN FRONT OF ME

A story from the April Newsletter by Shawn

The memory is crisp, over 7 years later.

I see her step out of a 2nd floor motel room at the Radiant Inn, a man over her shoulder. Her eyes focus on Diane and me, just stepping out of our car in the parking lot. 

Diane and I are early on our Colfax journey. For several months we have hung around, getting to know people, seeing where Jesus was working. We had gone into the motels with Mean Street Ministries, a step that steered us to this unique, beautiful and broken motel population that became our flock. 

Tonight is a big night. We had discovered multiple motels that were receiving no attention and decided to go on our own to them, a bit of food in hand and a desire to serve and love. We were waiting for Nate and Christine, friends of ours who were brave enough to join us. Our first team members!

I see her walking down the stairs, stairs I now know intimately, but unknown to me then. Her eyes fixed on us, she walks over to our car and basically says this: “What are YOU doing here?” Not unfriendly, just curious. You see, people who look like us—comfortably middle class—don’t show up in these motels. We stick out like a sore thumb, something she pointed out bluntly. 

I laugh at her question and give a now-familiar speech. I’m a pastor and we are here to be an encouragement to those in a dark corner of our world. No goal but to love people and make some friends, all in Jesus’ name. 

She accepts that but looks at us like we are crazy. We chat, learn her name, and get the beginning sketch of her life. She was living it all—addiction, mental illness, poverty, street life. We listened and engaged, just focusing on this one person in front of us. 

I think I knew it then, but especially looking back on that moment, I see it as the real beginning of Jesus on Colfax. We were called by Jesus to this world. We knew that. But where does one even start in this sea of despair? 

Here, as often in my life, Mother Theresa provided a path. She once said, “I do not believe in the big way of doing things. I only believe in the person in front of me.” 

Her story is fascinating. Living the life of a nun, teaching in a comfortable Christian school, she took a train ride one day and saw a leper, abandoned to die by the side of the road. She got off the train and walked over to love that one person, to help as she could. She started with this one person in front of her. Loving, listening, encouraging. 

Diane and I did the same. Kara, in that moment, was the person in front of us. We engaged, listened, loved. That night, both at the Radiant Inn and later at the Aurora Motel—our first two motels—we met many others, including JD, the man over her shoulder. He too, living the life, dealing, selling sex. Just the four of us—me, Diane, Nate and Christine—door by door by door. One person at a time, the person in front of us. Where Jesus told us to start.  

That night, and for several years, that was our simple focus. When I asked Jesus what we were supposed to do, He was direct, even blunt: “Show Up, Love People.” That only works if you go where people are and love them as they are. One person at a time, the person in front of us. Day after day, week after week, year after year. Oh, we helped as we could—connecting friends to resources, helping them get into programs or housing—but our real work was, and is, loving people. The Jesus way. 

We came to understand that our friends were desperate for simple friendship, for someone who treated them with love and dignity.  For Kara, and hundreds of our friends, they are not treated like that. They are seen as problems, nut jobs, lost causes. People to be feared, ignored, avoided. Not the Jesus way. 

We have, while staying faithful to that call, stepped into bigger spaces and broader things. Our mission statement grew to reflect that. To the words “Show Up, Love People,” we added, “Build Relationships, Cultivate Wellbeing.” We have more times of gathering, clearer programs and pathways to help our friends, strong partnerships with other ministries. Bigger things with exciting possibilities ahead of us. All good, all making more of a difference in the lives of more friends. The Jesus way. 

Interestingly, despite her words, Mother Theresa ended up doing big things—building a world-wide ministry, running schools and orphanages, founding homes for the dying. Her life and ministry impacted countless thousands. But for her, it did not start big. It started with that first leper, the person in front of her.

Kara became a good friend. We learned her back story—neglect and sexual abuse set her on a path of addiction and life on the street. There were stretches when she slept in our car, parked on the street next to the Ranger where we were living. She worked to make changes and has made remarkable progress, now off the street, clean, in an apartment, holding a job. We don’t see her a lot, but whenever we do she gives us credit for her growth, saying she is one of our “success stories.”

All, I think, because of this: from that first encounter, Diane and I met her and loved her as “the person in front of us.”  That set a template for what JOC was to become. And, even as we move into larger things, that value permeates all that we do. At a motel door, on the street, in our family rooms, teaching classes, hosting meals, what matters is the person in front of us. 

The Jesus way.

PS: As some of you have heard, I was in an auto accident 6 weeks ago and have two fractured vertebrae. Thanks for the prayers and also the meals many of you have brought. I am in a brace and am slowly healing. No need for surgery but there is a need for me to be patient and go slow. I am not good at that so pray for me:) The healing process is 3-6 months.