Walking With God: A Homeless Experience

Walking with God

A HOMELESS EXPERIENCE

Daniel Hylton

Trilogy Christian Publishers

Tustin, CA

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Walking with God: A Homeless Experience

Copyright © 2024 by Daniel Hylton

Scripture quotations marked

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are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 979-8-89333-555-2

ISBN 979-8-89333-556-9 (ebook)

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Preparation

Chapter 2. Sunday

Chapter 3. Monday

Chapter 4. Tuesday

Chapter 5. Wednesday

Chapter 6. Thursday

Chapter 7. Friday

Chapter 8. Saturday

Chapter 9. Sunday

INTRODUCTION

Why Did You Become Homeless for a Week?

In the summer of 2015, my brother in Christ, Shane, and I embarked on a journey into the unknown. It was unfamiliar to us but is experienced by approximately three and a half million people each year in America.

It all started with a conversation that I had with C.J., another brother of ours, a year and a half earlier. C.J. and I were discussing homelessness and all of the hardships that people face. God started speaking to me about living homeless for a week. I was being called to experience this way of life but was not sure why. C.J. and I decided to spend a week among the homeless in the summer of 2014. God’s timing is completely different than ours; plans fell away as we were both involved in other things and never had the opportunity to follow through.

Months passed and thoughts of living homeless for a week began to fade. A new school year started; I had new students to get to know and teach; as a newlywed, I was enjoying life with my new wife, Abbagayle; ministry was working well (this is the lie that I believed); life was going along just fine—so I thought. The distractions of everyday life had almost drowned out that still small voice in my head. As a thinker/feeler, I was not really interested in actually doing what God was calling me to do. He would not let me forget, though. That still small voice began to get louder and louder.

In November of 2014, I organized a twenty-four-hour prayer meeting to pray for our ministry—for growth and everything else. During a time when Satan attacked me with six weeks of sickness and infections, God blessed our ministry with Shane. I began to meet with him for discipleship in December. Shane’s zeal for the Lord and his unrelenting desire to share the message of Christ were just what the ministry and I needed at that time. Thank you, Jesus!

I began to share with Shane that I felt led to experience homelessness. As we met each week, we talked more and more about the idea and decided to go through with it. I had been here before and knew that it was going to be easy to talk myself out of this: What about deodorant? What if I get sick or injured? What if I get a rash and can’t find any medicine for it? Where will I sleep? How will my skin respond without lotion? What about food? What about wild animals at night? Will I be safe with all of the gangs and mentally ill that are on the streets? These are all questions that came to mind—some were fairly legitimate—but this was not God’s voice.

When C.J. and I first started discussing this, we felt led to Charlotte, N.C. This made sense for many reasons. If we stayed in Columbia, S.C., our hometown, it would be too easy to find help or just walk home when things weren’t going well. Charleston, S.C. came to mind in later discussions, but again this was too familiar and ultimately not what God wanted. For some reason, He was pointing us 104 miles north to the Queen City.

Shane and I had a plan and a tentative week on the calendar set aside, along with many doubts and, for me, fears. I wasn’t going to allow these fears to interfere with what was sure to be a great experience. I needed what all Christians need to persevere: accountability. So, I began to tell everyone. I told my students, friends, family, and anyone else that would listen. Satan used this against me of course, but unfortunately for him, I recognized what he was doing. For everyone that I told, I was presented with a new doubt or fear or reason to not go through with it. Maybe I should have taken Shane’s approach. He told very few people about it, if any. He said that it was a good thing because no one was trying to talk him out of it. As for me, I needed the accountability of, So how was your homeless experience? Knowing people would ask me about it kept me from finding a way to not do it.

During the spring semester of 2015, the high school where I teach had a service project for the homeless. I used this time to talk with students about their views on homelessness and also share some of the experiences that I have had with the homeless. The students had many misconceptions about the homeless population of America. I still didn’t have a grasp on what being homeless was like. While talking with homeless people in downtown Columbia, I found out some information that helped me shape my views of those who live on the streets. Even so, I still had no clue as to how they were actually living. I mean, what causes a man who has been homeless since 2006 to sleep in the chair of a hotel room instead of the nice comfortable bed? I couldn’t really understand what he was going through until I had experienced it myself. Why do homeless people have cell phones? I wanted to know, but did I really want to give up the comforts and luxury of my home to find out?

This account of our week of homelessness isn’t a matter of what I wanted to do. It isn’t about me at all. In fact, it isn’t about the homeless people that we met or the cops we ran into or the businessmen who ignored us. It is about loving God. We show love for God when we obey Him. He put it in my heart to become homeless for a week. I wasn’t sure why He led me to do this or why He sent us to Charlotte. Perhaps I will never know. I went there with doubts and fears but I came back with a renewed heart and mind. A mind that still has many things to learn, but one that can comprehend what life without a physical place to call home is like. A heart filled with love and compassion.

chapter 1

Preparation

It was four days before our departure, and we needed to prepare. Shane had asked me previously to meet up with him and pray for the week. I had been praying some and asked many others to pray as well, not giving any thought to praying beside the guy with whom I would spend 168 hours. I like being reminded of what is important as it keeps my mind set on things above and not on earthly things. Shane came to my house, and we spent time discussing the essentials. We began to brainstorm and came up with some specific requests, which we would take to God in prayer.

While brainstorming, Shane must have said protection three or four times before I even acknowledged it. Even though I had many doubts and fears up to this point, protection was not really one of them. Shane mentioned protection a fifth time and then an episode of the television series Gangland; I started really paying attention. I hadn’t thought about the mentally ill, the parolees, or any possible gang initiations. Now I was, and I was also thinking about things like stray animals, bugs, and drug addicts. I tried to block out my newly found fears and put trust in the Most High God! We came up with our list:

God to be glorified!

Show us our purpose while we are out there.

People to hear the good news and be saved and be healed.

For us to understand how to lay down everything and how to leave family behind to do His will.

Humility

For contentment and our comfort level to be ignored.

Protection from others/enemy/bugs/animals.

We used the next hour or two to worship our Lord and seek His guidance. All of my fears subsided and I was now mentally and spiritually ready for this mission.

The next day, I went to a thrift store to pick out some clothes. I bought two pairs of jeans and later donated those back to the store. Saturday rolled around and with less than twenty-four hours until our departure, I still had no clue of what to wear. I called up Shane to ask for some prayer and healing for an eye infection that had developed. He was shopping at a thrift store for clothes. We met up and he prayed for my eye to be healed. After several appeals, we decided to eat a bite and go to the local Goodwill store.

We were surprised at the quality of some of the clothes. I found a long sleeve shirt to protect against sunburn and mosquitoes along with a pair of cargo pants that were too big but were sure to help me fit in. Shane picked out a shirt that seemed to have come right out of his closet. Remember, there were many nice clothes at this particular store. Shane’s style was not in danger of being cramped. We found a belt to hold up my oversized pants and a bucket hat for Shane to wear. At only twenty-five cents, this hat was a great investment. It was sure to protect the ears and eyes from the sun, but little did we know it would attract some unwanted attention.

During our shopping spree, a homeless man approached and asked us for some money. He said that he was hungry. I told him that we would get him something to eat after we finished shopping. We made our purchases and met Jerome at the door. He was a military veteran and was sleeping under the bridge nearby. He would hustle during the