I visited some men at the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Portland yesterday. The visit was very productive and I left sensing the Holy Spirit in the way words never capture. 

As I weaved my way through the streets laden with the homeless, and got into my car, I noticed a man across the street, fiftyish, pushing a grocery basket with what looked like flowers in it, not fresh beautiful buds, but rather something days old that may have been in a wedding? 

He was a lean white fella, straight blond hair and mumbling loudly to himself. I looked behind, him fifty feet or so, and noticed another man walking the same direction that also had straight blond hair. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, and the fella had his shirt off enjoying the sun I expect. 

As the shirtless fella got closer I was shocked to realized that this was a woman, and she had taken off all her clothes, down to her bare feet! 

She too, was fiftyish although her body looked much older. My first thought was she had no clothes, and I grimaced thinking how vulnerable she was walking the streets of Portland! A very dangerous place in the best of circumstances. At the beginning of the block, the police park on the corner because the crime rate is so high in this area, so I had to believe they saw her. Then I remembered in our cesspool of a city, there is no law against public nudity unless it's done for sexual pleasure. How one determines that is a mystery to me!

When I was a young teen, I had a loved one go through a very traumatic crisis and they had a nervous breakdown, and at the height of her breakdown, she walked out of the shower, through the living room, where every one was watching television, and walked out the front door, oblivious to her state. 

It may be this woman triggered that memory and contributed to the emotional reaction and feeling of helplessness I had as I frantically searched my brain for some way to help. When I prepared to come down to the mission it was a cool morning so I wore a T-shirt and a light outer shirt, so I realized I could give her my outer shirt and I felt the Lord would want me to do that. I drove my car to the other side of the street, lowered my window and said, "I have a shirt you can have."  She glanced at me with a scowl and turned and walked away. I knew that was all I could do, you simply never approach a homeless woman on the street, it never ends well. 

So I drove off in a storm of disturbing emotions that still haunt me today. What if this was someone I knew? Can no one come to her aid? Will the police do nothing? How have we as a country allowed things to deteriorate this far??? 

Sadly, oddly, in this part of town where so many are addicted and have mental problems, most people don't even notice, much less care, about a woman walking around naked. But make no mistake, she is in real and imminent danger. 

Later that day I talked with one of the staff members at the mission and shared what I saw; he said this woman has done that multiple times. 

So here we are, living in a world where a woman suffering who knows what, has put herself in the most dire circumstances and left to fend for herself.......