El Roi- God Who Sees

Skid Row has a way of getting under your skin, and little things that happen often enough can be frustrating and make me feel anxious and stressed out. I was having one of those days yesterday, where the attitudes of a few people I encountered, on top of the atmosphere of Skid Row, sent me into a funk.

Since my friend Nate moved from Long Beach back to Kansas City, Dan and I haven't had many options to get out of Skid Row. We've got a few breaks, Dan went to Enid, Oklahoma for a week to check out ministry there, and I got a chance to go to Moab, Utah for a weekend camping trip with my friend Ryan, who was taking a wilderness first response class. Other than that, it's Skid Row life 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.



Last night I went on a walk to Little Tokyo, which is really close to Skid Row, but it's a night and day difference. The air doesn't smell of urine and marijuana smoke, the streets are spotless, and it's a little taste of normal life.  I was sitting around playing on my iPhone and using the wifi from Starbucks. I was praying something to the effect of, 'Lord, I really do not want to go back to Skid Row tonight,' when my friends from the Hollenbeck House showed up out of nowhere.

We went to Yogurtland and hung out for a bit. They then headed to their car and I said good bye, thanking them for the encouragement. As I was walking away my friend Colin opened the van door and asked if I would want to spend the night and get a break from Skid Row. In my head I was screaming, 'Yes!!' and so I said, 'I would love to!' and squeezed into their van. We stopped by the Mission so I could get some things, and then went to the Hollenbeck House.

It was such a peaceful night, I watched a movie and passed out on Colin's bed. Waking up here reminded me so much of the Logan House back home. I sat on the back porch eating oatmeal and read from 1 Corinthians 11 to the end of the book. Paul went through a lot of intense situations in his life, from being shipwrecked, to receiving the forty lashes minus one, beaten with rods, stoned, and fighting wild beasts in Ephesus. When I read about what he's been through, my problems look so miniscule in comparison.

In Genesis 16, Abram tries to fulfill the promise the Lord made with him through Sarai's servant Hagar. After she conceived, she had contempt on her mistress, and Sarai treated her harshly. Hagar ran into the wilderness and the Lord met her by a spring and told her she would bear a son, and she was to name him Ishmael, which means 'God hears.' After He speaks with her, she calls him El Roi, which means 'You are a God who sees me.' She then says, 'Truly here I have seen him and he looks after me.'

Sometimes I feel like the Lord doesn't hear what I'm praying or doesn't see the crazy things I deal with on a daily basis. But the same God who talked to Hagar by the spring in the wilderness is the same God that talked to Paul and said, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' He is the very same God that hears and sees you and me.