Shootings Near My Rescue Mission

"That's the bridge I used to sleep under." one of our residents told me this morning.  Wednesday's drive-by shooting on the homeless guys sleeping under the Morrison Street Bridge, little more than a block away from CityTeam's Portland Rescue Mission, had him a little shook up. "So, it's safe to say that if you weren't here, then you would have been there?" I asked.

"Yeah...yeah."

This is the second shooting in as many weeks, less than a half a mile from our Center.  "Be careful when you're down there." my wife cautioned before I left for work this morning.  I assured her that I wasn't worried.

In fact, as I thought about it, the shootings tell me that we are in the right place. "Hurting people, hurt people."  my father-in-law reminds me.  We...I...CityTeam...have to be in the places where people hurt the most.  We bind their physical wounds and introduce them to Jesus. He is the only one who can do anything about their physical wounds. If we are afraid, if we run away just because of a few shootings, how will they hear?

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Police: Two homeless men shot in 'drive-by' under Morrison Bridge