July 2008 ~ Ron’s Testimony
…From the Living Room … ~ Pioneer Courthouse Square:
We send you greetings of our Lord’s wonderful grace and love and want to share some stories from our open-air ministry in Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as “Portland’s Living Room.” We are usually at the SW Sixth and Morrison corner which has about the highest volume of pedestrian traffic of any street corner in all of Portland, Oregon.
We are especially interested in bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God to those who are thirty years old and younger. But we do not discriminate. Anyone who wants to know more about Jesus, who wants to meet Him, or who wants the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is someone we want to meet. Each day we interact with a great variety of people. Here are a few short stories of these encounters.
There are many “cardboard sign people” on the sidewalks in downtown Portland and because of this there is a sit-lie ordinance governing sidewalks. A young woman named “Jasmine” has received eleven tickets totaling about $3,000 in fines. She dresses in the common “gutter punk” style and when we first talked with her she held a sign saying: “I EXIST - I know you don’t care….” She would stand across the street from us with a downcast look. We talked with her several times offering her friendship and food and the message about Jesus, His Kingdom, and the new heaven and new earth to come. She claimed to be a vegetarian pagan when she refused the burger we offered and said that she worships all the pagan gods. She also told us that she is a heroin addict and that she is a few months pregnant. She is friendly and talks with us when we meet each other on the street. Her latest cardboard sign now reads: “Homeless, Hungry, Hoping for Help.” She claims she gets about $30/day. Even though she was described as a “street kid” she is 31 years old and an expectant mother and on heroin.
A twenty-six year old African American man stopped to talk for about twenty minutes with many intelligent questions. He had many body piercings and was dressed in black with lots of symbols attached. He had been raised in a church but has rejected all religion so I talked with him about relationship with Jesus. He talked with me about an Internet movie called “zeitgeist” and quoted information to me from the movie (www.zeitgeistmovie.com) which denies that Jesus ever existed. So I talked with him about the eyewitness accounts recorded in the Gospels, Acts, and some of the letters of Paul, Peter, and John. He had a strong aversion to all religion but was very interested in the possibility of actually knowing God, which he had learned was not possible. He is a regular in the area.
We meet so many: Earl who believes in Jesus but has some mental disability. So does Gary who can barely make sense when he talks and is missing his front teeth. His sign says that he is without a job and has two children. He also is on some medications or “meds” as they all call them. There are a couple of women who stop by. One named Karen who had a stroke, believes strongly in the Lord, but has difficulty speaking and walking. She is very friendly and always speaks of her love for Jesus. Shirley writes poetry about her years of drug abuse, abusive relationships, and moral difficulties. She shared a poem about having “a pipe full of crack” and “turning a trick to get some more.” She admitted that her life “wasn’t the best” and that she feared she would end up in hell. She was waiting for a “date” to show up when we met and talked “in the living room.” While we talked a woman walked by cursing Queen Elizabeth so that all could hear and when her date showed up a man walked by screaming at the sky. Jasmine was across the street with her new sign looking down at the sidewalk. We are talking with an increasing number of homeless, hurting, and broken people giving us opportunities “to stop for the one” as we learn to better “love the one in front of us.”
We thank God for your prayers, your friendship, your love, your encouragement, and your support as we continue to bring a witness of His kingdom day-by-day “in the living room” at the Square in downtown Portland. We are especially thankful for your kindness to us as we preach the Good news one-by-one-by-one during these increasingly difficult times in our region and in our nation. We are standing with you for much fruitfulness in our Lord’s harvest and we send our prayers and our love with this letter.
~ Ron & Karen
E-mail: awakening1s@comcast.net
Home Page: awakening1s.net
church @ 24/7
Ron & Karen Rohman
PO Box 14292
PORTLAND OR 97293