Ten years ago I wrote a commentary entitled “Common Humanity Among Amabout my Lenten Journey for the San Antonio Express News. You can read the published and edited version here. Abe Levy also covered the story from his perspective around the same time. Abe continued to follow the story of Willie (William Schooman) in the years to come. More on that later! Below is the unedited and raw version of my commentary: When I decided to live on the streets for the 40 days of Lent I did not know much about homeless life. In fact.  I knew nothing at all.  Many of us, including mysel ..read more

Fishing with Neville Last night was the last night out for Holy Week 2022. It was good to reconnect with friends and the community on the streets. It was also nice to reflect on my 2012 Lenten blog posts that I wrote ten years ago. What a decade! Yesterday, I went out with my dear friend Neville who showed me how he used to live in downtown San Antonio by collecting boxes and building temporary shelter each night. I have known Neville since 2017 when I started to work more directly with clients in downtown. Over the years, we have visited the beach, toured my farm, and spent countless nights ..read more

The blogs posts below were my last two blogs before my journey ended on Easter. It was a very strange feeling the last 2-3 days on the streets as I started to conclude my Lenten journey. I met some amazing people who really took me under their wing so we could manage the streets and form a close community of friends. I also got to learn about so many groups and nonprofits that serve all throughout the city. One of those being “Taking It To The Streets” that still exists today! My last night was a night of community and sharing. It was cold but we all shared what we had so we all could stay war ..read more

Below I are the 2012 blogs about some of the last days of my “40 Days of Haven” journey. That week I also reflected on the themes of Holy Week which you can read here. Mental health is one of the issues that traps many people experiencing homelessness and keeps them on the streets. According to Mental Illness Policy Org: “Numerous studies have reported that approximately one-third of homeless persons have a serious mental illness, mostly schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The percentage is higher among those who are chronically homeless and among homeless women…There is evidence that those w ..read more

The last week of my 40+ day journey during Lent 2012 was an interesting one as I was looking toward Easter and completing the journey. I had mixed emotions about the end of the journey but I wanted to complete the journey and make sure the friendships I formed would remain beyond the experience. I remember the feeling I felt when I could not find my friend Robert who went to Jail for trespassing. We both slept in the same abandoned barn for many nights. It took me some time to figure out he was arrested for trespassing and the nights sleeping outside alone without him were a very lonely. I fel ..read more

The first night under the bridge was an intense one. (You can recap Part 1 & 2 here.) But just when I thought a cigarette kept me from getting beat up…things got even worse. As I wrote yesterday, I remember each minute of this evening and night. After we got to sleep under the bridge by Interstate 10, we thought we were good and could relax. The woman abused was cared for at the hospital, we avoided a fight, and found our friends! Now off to sleep. However, we were not expecting what was in store early the next morning. That next morning all the homeless sleeping by I-10 were detained by p ..read more

The below reflections from 2012 come from a stretch of nights that were very intense. I remember like it was yesterday. People who are experiencing homeless and living on the streets are extremely vulnerable and face constant abuse, violence and intimidation. The post “Abuse” from 2012 is one of a two part series that ecompasses some of my first days transitioning from life in the shelter and more on the streets of San Antonio. As a wrote earlier, I am spending the nights of Holy Week 2022 away from my home and reconnecting with the unhoused and marginalized communities. On the third night, I ..read more

Currently, I am sleeping at Travis Park Church to assist with the migrant shelter we have reopened to care for migrants who have temporary asylum in the United States. For Holy Week 2022, I am seeking to not sleep at home so I can relearn some of the issues facing San Antonio during the night. The first night I stayed outside with my good friend Josh to catch up and relearn the streets of San Antonio. Now, I am at our migrant emergency shelter to learn more. In 2019 Travis Park opened its doors to help in the similar way and now our church and Corazon San Antonio is doing it again along with I ..read more

The night of the storm in the Spring of 2012 was the first night that Willie (who I first write about meeting here) invited me into his home during the lenten journey. It was a night to remember! I also remember the next night (and blog post) where I could not find my friend. It was a rollercoaster two days. After knowing him more, I learned that he normally wouldn’t have shown someone his secret spot off the St. Mary’s drag. However, he really cared about my safety and our friendship. He truly wanted to “show me the ropes.” That night, Willie was able to drop the fear of the stranger and invi ..read more

As I confessed earlier in this blog, I learned in 2012 that Lent was 48 days if you include Sundays. My goal was to make 40 days without my house, so I had a few days to “take off” and lead a mission trip that I was scheduled to lead. (About half way through my lenten journey I led a mission trip for my youth group where we took a train to St. Louis.) During this stretch of my 2012 blog, I reflect on that trip. I also had my friend Rev. Dr. Bryan Fillette write a few days about his time living on the streets with me a week before when we both lived at Haven for Hope. Bryan and I went to Duke D ..read more