Under the Overpass

A few weeks ago, a book entitled "Under the Overpass" by Mike Yankowski was recommended to me by RaeG (Rae Gillen). She said that I would particularly like it. Knowing that I was going to be in Virginia for three days for work, I decided I would pick up this book to kill the time while I was flying or waiting at the terminals caused by the large quantities of snow that are supposed to be arriving in Madison on Tuesday. No doubt, I'll get stuck at O'Hare :-(

So last Friday I went to the library over my lunch break to pick it up. I started reading it during my 2 hour layover at O'Hare. I was hooked immediately. "Under the Overpass" is a true story about a college guy (Mike, the author) who chooses to spend 5 months living on the streets as a homeless guy in 6 major cities, along with a buddy named Sam. The first city was Denver, then D.C., Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego in that order. This book is basically about the struggles he encounters with other homeless people, the church, finding food, finding places to sleep, pan-handling for money and ultimately himself. As a Christian, Mike felt compelled and driven to get a first-hand account of what it is like to be homeless. It is a shocking, horrifying, intriguing and inspiring story of faith on the truly mean streets of America.

I knew right away this was something that I would get into. In fact, I went to this amazing coffee shop this evening in downtown Lynchburg called the White Hart (which may be the best coffee shop I've ever been to) and completely finished the book. The fastest book I ever read. I was done in less than 24 hours. There were so many great passages in the book that I wanted to circle them. But since this was a library book I didn't want to do that...but I did anyway. Below are a few of the passages that popped out at me:

Pg. 46

"If we are the body of Christ - and Christ came not for the healthy but the sick - we need to be fully present in the places where people are most broken. And it has to be more than just a financial presence. That helps, of course. But too often money is insulation - it conveniently keeps us from ever having to come face-to-face with a man or woman whose life is in tatters."

Pg. 114 (On passing a church with a sign that read "No Trespassing. Church Business Only." A new chain and two huge padlocks secured the gate at the sidewalk)

"...Sure, a church needs to protect its property, but what we had just seen seemed excessive, and sent a negative uncaring message...
...Sam was having the same thoughts. "Let's say your life is falling apart and you need help. Would you want to go there?"
"Nope, " I said, "Anywhere but there. But the world is the church's business - and that's exactly who they're shutting out!"
We walked past a market that sold pop, beer, wine, cigarettes, pornography. The doors were wedged open. Ragged people came and went.
It was one of the places that never close...."

Pg. 141 (In a conversation with a guy named George)

"Isn't it amazing," I said, "that when we live as we're called and do what we're commanded, the gospel does get preached - one way or the other?"

Pg. 153

"It really frustrates me when Christians talk about their faith in Christ but never let the fruit of it grow in their lives," James said quietly. "True faith is visible."

Pg. 181 (Quote from Edifying Discourses by Soren Kierkegaard)

"Heavenly expectation begins precisely at the moment when earthly expectation sinks down in weakness and despair."

It was disturbing to see how often they got the cold shoulder from churches. I would say about 80% of the time they weren't allowed to enter or were ignored.

So, I highly recommend this book. It was incredibly encouraging for me. I know the above quotes sound a bit preachy, but trust me this is not how it came across to me.

Ironically enough, after I was done reading the book I picked up the magazine sitting on the table next to me and the first page that I opened it up to was about the New York Rescue Missions for the homeless and the some of the exact things, places and issues that were mentioned in the book were talked about in this article. Spooky!

By the way, Virginia is a beautiful state! I drove up in to the Blue Ridge Mountains after the transformer testing was done and the trees were huge and the road followed along the James River. Absolutely gorgeous. And it was 60 degrees out! Not looking forward to the -15 degree weather back in WI.