My Testimony
Someone asked me once, “Brother Rey, why do you even bother doing this, the only reason most of these people are coming is for the food?”
“You’re right,” I said, “some probably are coming for the food, but they’re going to get the Word at the same time, besides, I used to do the same thing.”
“What do you mean?” He exclaimed.
“You see, up until the late-nineties, I was one of them. Living on the streets. I was an alcoholic and a drug addict, always looking for a way to get some money for a fix, or going through dumpsters to find enough cans to cash in for a beer and/or cigarettes.
“But the Lord had greater plans for me. On April 29, 1998 I wascommitted to Charter Behavioral Hospital. Saying I was pretty messed up would be an understatement. Not just physically, but mentally and spiritually.
If things couldn't get worse, here I am, having been committed to the psych ward under suicide watch, and my wife and three daughters were getting ready to be put out in the streets again because of me.
Now I didn't realize it at the time, but God was already handling our situation. He sent us Guardian Angels named Roger and Marie, (at least that's what my wife and I think). Anyways, they took my wife and children and put them up in one of the bedrooms of their small house. They had three children already and Marie was pregnant.
I spent the next month in the hospital coming back from the dead. The whole time knowing it was only by the grace of God I was even alive; and with Jesus at my side, I managed to stay sober.
When I was released from the hospital I moved into the house with Roger and his family. They pretty much took care of us for the next year. And not just our physical needs, but our spiritual needs. With prayer and bible study daily Roger would always say, "We are building on the Rock, a solid foundation, and when you're ready to leave, you'll know."
“When the time came, I moved back into the same trailer park I used to hang out and party in. I’m thinking, ‘Lord, what are you doing? Don’t you remember that I used to live here and everyone knows me?’
"He knew.
“Each time I would run into one of the guys, and they would offer me a beer or a smoke, I just told them ‘No thanks, I walk with Jesus now.’ I still didn’t understand why I was living in this area again, but I was soon to find out.
“At about that time I had started attending the Baptist Learning Center and I was taking a class on Evangelism being instructed by Bro. Lynn Self. It was during this class I realized why I was in this neighborhood; to share with others what Christ had done for me. From that point on, when I was approached, my reply became, ‘I walk with Jesus now, who do you walk with?’”
It was also then that my wife and I decided we would start helping out one of the families that lived in the apartments in front of us. We knew that in our neighborhood you survived on a weekly paycheck, and by Thursday the cabinets were bare and you were generally out of money and food. So we started having them come over on Thursday nights for dinner and to start talking to them, at first just getting to know them and later talking to them about Jesus.
The next thing you know they started telling other neighbors about the dinner and by December 99 we had about ten folks coming over on a regular basis.
Christmas day came on a Thursday and I was planning to have a mellow holiday with my 3 daughters and my wife. Being Christmas day we just figured that we wouldn't have service and just relax. The Lord had other plans. That morning one of the couples from our church, that knew we were having Thursday night talks, brought over a Christmas dinner. And when I say a Christmas dinner I mean with ALL the fixins.
They brought a 23 pound roasted, stuffed turkey, dressing, green beans, biscuits, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie with Cool Whip, they even brought cranberry sauce. (getting hungry?) I mean theworks!
We told the neighbors we had all this food and to invite anyone they wanted. One of the neighbors saw two guys walking down the street that they knew and told them to come by. I invited the men into my trailer, and we munched. One of the guys, stood about 5 foot 15 with a handle bar mustache, tattoos covering his arms, was really surprised that I would even let him into my home, not knowing him and because he was homeless. He then continued to tell me that he knew that he was going to hell from all the things he had done in his life. We sat down and talked for a while, I gave him a bible and he left.
A couple of weeks later a friend came up to me and said,
“Rey, you wouldn’t believe what I saw today. Do you remember that man you gave the bible to on Christmas day? I am working with him now. Anyways, we’re at the job-site taking a lunch break, and I look on over at him and he was reading that bible.”
I thought, PRAISE GOD, it reallyworks!
Then I knew that was where God wanted me. So I started to visit some of the homeless living in the area. Out where they lived, in the ‘brush’.
Today we have two services, Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m. andSunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. every week. Our average attendance is between 40 and 50 folks on Thursdays and about 80 – 100 every Sunday. This includes several families from the area and many of the homeless.
We offer assistance by offering blankets, food, clothing and sometimes even tents.
Through the wisdom of our Father in Heaven we encourage the homeless to become a responsible part of our community, and of course, we offer spiritual guidance for all with the love of Jesus.
One of the ways we encourage our folks is our monthly neighborhood cleanup. Since the beginning of 2008 we have met every first Saturday at 9:00am. We pray, and then we pick out an area to pick up trash. It might be around the Post Office, or a field along the street. In fact, most of the trash we pick up is from the surrounding parking lots where folks let trash blow out of their cars when the door is open. Just the same, we care about our community and it’s so cool to see a homeless person volunteering their time. We don’t advertise, we do not tell the media, this is about community pride. I for one, am proud to see our guys working to do their part.
I did not choose this ministry, He chose me, but I would not change it for anything. It has become my passion as well as my wife’s and children.
There are those who feel comfort working within the church walls or within the sound of a church bell, as for myself, I’d rather run a rescue shop a few yards from hell.
As long as they’re alive, there ishope.
Remember, it’s about JESUS.
Pastor Rey Escalante
