Come Join the Vibe!
This 40Days Campaign will soon be over. All on the sidewalk will return to what it is most of the year: less set-up, no daily blog posting, and less friendly supportive prayer partners.
Less set-up and no daily blog are OK, but we will miss you all until we see you again during the next campaign. Now and then before that time, please feel free to come and keep us company!
What will you be missing? I can only speak for our shift on early Tuesdays, but it’s punctuated with lots of interesting city life. If you’re a people watcher, you’d enjoy it! Here are a few slices for you:
- The 28X Airport Bus swings by twice every hour. It’s good to note that, since more than a few pedestrians, pulling their suitcases behind them, need to know.
- It’s officially 8:30AM when the queue outside the DMV across the street disappears inside the building.
- Claiming the 900 block of Liberty their place for the day, homeless friends hang out nearby, so we are provided with our own set of familiar faces: Laura, Jeff, Darleen, William, Linda and Calvin are a few who come and go. Sometimes they need a treat, sometimes a hug or a prayer, and always a conversation.
- The kind Cultural Trust security checker passes by, getting in his steps for the day passing from one location to another.
- City sidewalk cleaners bustle past keeping our block clean of debris.
- There are a number of dog owners who live in nearby apartments. You get to know the dogs, each so different from the others.
- The nice security guard, getting off her local night shift, heads to the bus stop, ready to get home to bed.
I’ve left out tons, but many of the same people on their way to work figure into the familiar pattern of what I refer to as our “Tuesday Morning Vibe”. That whole microcosm of city life which has become a part of my own. I go home and prattle on to my poor husband about them all, like he ought to know them, too!
Amidst all my people watching, I offer support to PP clients. It’s so VERY helpful when other folks are there simply to pray and smile. I want to do it all, but I can’t. Will you help?
Keep reading for today’s sidewalk reports…
7:30-9:00 – Joe K, Tim & David P
It was a quiet morning with minimal sidewalk traffic and only a few pp workers going in. We were able to pray and yak a little. The year round Saturday morning regulars of Joe, David, Bill S. & H and Tim were all on deck. We were joined by Don from St. Isidore who was later joined by Buck.
The three prayerful ladies from Quigley prayer group joined and gave us a nice presence on the east side of the arc and stayed through my shift into Sue’s.
Red our security guard was visible and comforting. All in all it was a peaceful, blessed and somewhat joy filled morning as no babies were killed, spirits crushed nor souls lost. GBY Tim
9:00-11:00 – Sue D
PP was open for workers doing mold remediation but not taking clients. 4 people went in when we were there, but were turned away by the guard. We had a lot of interaction with people walking by…one woman yelled at us for statistics of adverse events on the abortion pill, but didnt want to hear any…she had an abortion by medication and screamed at us that she was fine. Hmmm. We had positive and negative interactions. Kelly in particular was very kind to a man opposing us who stopped to talk, but said he only had time to say what he thought about abortion. Not much of a dialogue. It was nice to talk with everyone who came today and we did do some praying!
11:00-1:00 – Dean
Planned Parenthood was only half open today. They had a crew removing mold from the interior of the building. Couples entering were turned away. I guess we can count that as a win. I wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
1:00 – 3:00 – Kathy K & Fran
Today was fairly typical except that so many people were receptive to taking literature from Kathy. That was so wonderful to see! I was talking with Red, our security officer, and we were commenting about how Kathy’s body language and facial expression are always so gentle, kind and approachable. As we were saying that, a group of young ladies was walking down the sidewalk talking casually. When they got closer, I noticed that one of the ladies looked down to the sidewalk and slightly to the side, giving me the impression that she was feeling great sadness. There were six girls in the group, I can’t remember any of their faces except hers, the girl in the green sweater. It may be presumptuous, but I believe, due to the timing, the sudden change in her demeanor had something to do with an experience relating to the 40DfL mission. Her face will be in my heart as I keep her in prayer. If more women would just look at the face of their beautiful baby on an ultrasound, how could they not choose life?
3:00-5:00 – Jeff & Billy
Happy All Souls Day!
Today Jeff and I were accompanied by a family of six: Sean and Emily and their four children joined us to pray. Praise God for another Saturday that Planned Parenthood was closed. It looks like the only. people coming in and going in were maintenance people.. We had a couple interesting encounters. First encounter: A man with a Palestine flag shirt accompanied by three kids came by us, and one of the children had a free Palestine shirt. The man said to us (with the beautiful family here), that we should do something better with our time. (Oh, the irony). A person screamed out the window of their car at us, and then two guys, (one with a scraggly beard), flipped off Jeff and then came right up in my face and flipped me off. There is a positive…a man came to tell us, (pointing at Planned Parenthood), that it was going to be over sometime soon, (referring to abortion), in God’s timing, and we all know that’s true! During the four o’clock hour things slowed down at PP, but there was still some foot traffic. It was an interesting way to end the campaign.
