Parea is a Greek Word that basically means “circle of close friends.” When we chose that name for out ministry, we wanted it to embody who we were, not just to ourselves as a ministry, but also those who we encounter as we minister in Old Town Victorville. It speaks of our desire to make a long term commitment to people in a radical, relational way. Parea Community is all about relationship. We believe with all sincerity that Jesus will use us to change the world one relationship at a time! With that declaration, I would like to tell you a little story…
One day well over a year ago, after months and months of intercession and planning, a couple of us decided to plunge headfirst into the murky and turbulent waters of the homeless population along the Mojave Riverbed (no pun intended). We hiked down the side of the highway 18 bridge that spans the river and ventured under the bridge around the girders hoping to find someone who was camping out. Our hearts broke. Graffitied all over the concrete pillars and support beams were cries of desperation, loneliness and brokenness. We read poems written in permanent marker that told dark and sad tales of lost love, abandoned dreams. An insurmountable amount of old clothing, trash and broken appliances littered the entire area. My friend and I were completely overwhelmed, all we could do was stare and proclaim “Lord have mercy!” After a couple of minutes we saw three figures (two men and a lady) walking down the railroad tracks, waving at us. Quickly looking at each other, eyes saying “this is our chance,” we scurried down the rest of the way, dodging empty tin cans and beer bottles to have our first contact with the locals. After a couple of minutes, our paths crossed and after hasty introductions we began to share with them who we were and what we were doing. With a skeptical tone, one of the men offered to let us camp at his place, mistaking us for being new to the river. “Oh, we’re not homeless, we just wanted to come down here to help in any way we can!” I awkwardly replied. With a collective nod of understanding and a singular “cool!” the ice was broken. The other gentleman told us how he had recently come to be homeless. A week previous he had gotten out of jail (CDC drops off new parolees at the bus station on 6th and D st.) and found himself with no money, no way of getting a steady job because of a disability (he has only one leg), and no place to lay his head. The night before our encounter he had slept in an abandoned building and almost froze to death, frost covered his un-blanketed body in the morning. The other two had been walking around town in the freezing winter night in order keep warm. The intensity of their stories gripped our hearts and we could feel the confirmation of our decision to begin to minister to these precious people. It seemed that we instantly formed close bonds with all three of these people, and inevitably this encounter has opened up the doors to a blossoming new movement towards the poor called Parea Community.
To many of the Homeless, it is imperative that they form close, tight-knit social networks that really resemble a sort of family. It is really hard for someone outside of the network to gain acceptance into the family, especially when they are not homeless. Although all of the member of Parea love and support the many ministries existing in Old Town, our homeless friends look on most of them with a wary eye. I too have noticed that while many of them meet very important needs, the one key thing that they are missing is relationship. We may be the smallest ministry with a microscopic budget, but somehow God has blessed up with the most meaningful relationships and loads of close friends, most of which do not have a consistent roof over their heads and struggle daily to exist in this world. The other day, a friend came up to me during our Saturday morning coffee ministry and smiled. Then he proclaimed “every time you guys come down here, you brighten up everybody’s day, its one big family down here, and you guys are part of it.” What a privilege!