CITY HELP MOBILE MEDICAL CLINIC
What an incredible sight! 2000 smiling children receiving backpacks filled with goodies and school supplies at the Back to School Bash! Those with a special ticket inside the pocket also received a bike. The Dream Center organized this annual carnival as part of their outreach to the community. Our family was stationed at the Face Painting booth where kids and adults had butterflies, flowers, hearts, spiders and even skulls painted on their faces. This was another opportunity to interact with the families, volunteers and staff from the Dream Center.
We had an opportunity to tour the City Help Mobile Medical Clinic which was there to provide emergency first aid during this event. The Clinic provides affordable and accessible health care and prescriptions to the uninsured on Skid Row and at the Dream Center. Our family spoke with Joe, the Pharmacy Tech, who had spent 2 years on Skid Row, despite being employed as a telemarketer at the time. Due to changes in housing policies, Joe had to move out of a $300/month apartment and lived in motels on Venice Beach. The cost of the motels quickly ate away all his savings and he began to sleep in the office where he worked. A security guard discovered him and soon he was out of a job and on the streets. After two years on Skid Row, Joe was determined to get off the streets and re-train. He texted Pastor Matthew Barnett and within 8 minutes was contacted by Alicia. Joe now has a job at Target and is being transferred to one of their locations in Virginia. He knows other graduates from the Dream Center Discipleship Program there and he will have the opportunity to reconnect with them.
The second beautiful sight we witnessed was the Saddleback Church Campus, located in Lake Forest, California. The senior pastor is Pastor Rick Warren. What we found unique about this Church was that there are multiple services and worship styles each weekend. All have live bands with different styles of music but they have the same message as in the Worship Center. We attended the service in the Worship Center which has the largest available seating. If you like service with a harder edge to your worship style, then “Overdrive” is the venue for you. If you prefer to sing hymns and choruses as you worship with less volume and a small church feeling, you would attend “Traditions”. If you treasure gospel music and would love to sing more as part of your worship experience, join “Praise”. “Fuel” service is geared towards those in the 20s and 30s who are looking for a place to make connections and build relationships. If you want to eat while attending service, Terrace Café is equipped with four big screens. There are also services in Spanish and ASL interpreted.
During yesterday’s service, Pastor Rick Warren outlined 6 reactions that we should take “When Life Falls Apart”.
- Unload all my frustrations on God
- Turn my focus from my pain to God’s love
- Get alone with God and wait
- Change the things I can change
- Ask God to relieve my fears
- Expect Jesus to restore my life
He challenged us to spend 10 minutes every day for 7 days in silence on God. Be quiet, listen, remove distractions, get comfortable and say to God, “I’m waiting to hear from you.”
the ma family 