One Month!

This morning I was woken up by a very nice cop around 7am, who immediately recognized me. He even commented on how I have less stuff in my car now. This made me smile, because it alludes to all the interesting experiences I have had over the last month. I will say though, that being woken up be a polite cop is no problem at all, if they are rude it sucks.

Since today is the one month mark, I went to the Food for the Hungry site. Originally signed up to sponsor three children, but went back and added one. Bellow is there pictures and information.

Pedro Alfonso Cacao Chocooj

This is the first child I added so I forgot to copy the information about him, but I remember that he is about nine years old, likes mathematics, and enjoys playing soccer. 

Rebecca is nine years old. She lives in Uganda with her parents, who are peasant farmers. In school she likes drawing, and her favorite activity is jump rope.

Sarmin is eleven years old and lives in Bangladesh with her parents. Her father is a farmer and her mother is a housewife. In school she loves to study the national language. Outside of school her favorite activity is running.

Yeri is also eleven years old. She lives in the Dominican Republic with her father who is a Farmer, and her mother who is a housewife. In school her favorite subject is social studies. Outside of school she loves playing with dolls.

At times living in my car has been a frustrating experiences. It is very good to finally see the faces of why I am doing it.

Redesigning the Car

Thursday night I drove up an isolated road leading to a reservoir dam and a fire station outpost. I parked on the side of the road half a mile from the fire station hoping for a semi isolated night. The next morning several service vehicles drove past, all slowing down as they did. I was just waiting for the cops to show up, but in the end I left before any of that happened. This was the last in a long line of experiences that motivated me to spend, Friday transform my car into something a little more covert.  The previous traveling circus design had my bed level with the windows which allowed me to store stuff underneath. It was also the only way to fit my bed in because the back seats stuck up even when folded down. However, this design puts me and a large portion of my stuff in plane view. I spend the afternoon paring down what I actually needed in my car, and taking out the back seats. I arranged the remaining stuff so that it fits bellow the windows and is covered by a black piece of fabric, which makes my car almost look normal.

Bellow are a few pictures of the project:

Before the redesign:

After the redesign: 

At the moment I am staying in a church parking lot, but Im hoping this improvement will help me avoid the attention of the cops when I am staying in public parking lots. It is also nice to have a car that looks half normal.

A day in the Mountains

Last night I spent a little time on Google Maps and found a road leading into the heart of the mountains. It is a seven mile drive from the gym, but I enjoyed the solitude. By the time I stopped, I was several thousand feet above L.A. It was a beautiful scene, and since I was above the smog I got to see stars for the first time in a long time. There was a sweet mountain breeze blowing into the car all night. The next morning I woke up to an amazing sunrise dancing over a sea of fog covering L.A. Although I will not be able to drive that far on a regular basis, going into the mountains was a good break.

I continue to look for creative ways to cut costs, but I am still humbled to think how rich I am. According to the World Bank (the go to for this sort of information) 80% of the world's population lives on less than $10 per day. So far, my total average per day spending (not including car insurance, maintenance or school) is $12. This means that while living out of my car, and minimizing my food costs I am still one of the riches people on the plant. I don't think America fully understands what poverty is.

For the last few weeks I have been reflecting on James 1:23-24:
"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (NIV). - The problem with America is that we encounter the great pain of other people, but forget about it as fast as possible. Either through a sermon, a video, or an experience we are reminded of how much we have. We then say, "wow I feel really convicted, I need to change the way I live" - and then five minuets later casually ask our friend if they want to go eat a $15 dinner at a restaurant. In five minutes we forget that 50% of the world lives on less than $2.50 per day, and go spend more on one meal, than they spend in six days.

Don't forget as soon as you turn away from the mirror, that you are not on earth to have a picnic, but to run a race. While we are not responsible for winning the race (victory is God's responsibility, because the burden is too heavy for us), we are responsible for running.

The Fun Continues

Over the last week, several different officers have told me it is permissible to sleep in the 24hour Wal-Mart parking lot for a few days at a time. Since I really wanted one undisturbed nights sleep, I decided to try Wal-Mart out. I first went in and bought some stuff because I figured it would help, after that I talk to the security guard driving around the Wal-Mart parking lot. The middle aged lady very unemotionally told me "absolutely not, but the Corviena Wal-Mart allows people to stay over night." So I traveled five miles to the Corviena Wal-Mart. I talked to the security guard there (also a middle aged, over weight lady) who told me "absolutely not" - but that I could sleep in the Toy's R Us parking lot to Wal-Mart. The more I think about this statement, the more it amuses me. I can just imagine all the creeper vans camping in front of a children's store. That said, I didn't even try Toys R Us. Instead I traveled back to Glendora and spent a restless night in the Sam's Club parking lot, where there were a couple of other campers.

My first reflection is how interesting it is that people were so quick to pass along a problem. Second is how little people communicate. Third is how socially unacceptable it is to sleep in a car. Fourth, that all the Wal-Mart security guards were over weight women who seem to generally hate life.

A Busy Weekend

This last Friday I was woken up by three young policemen at 6:30am. It is always a different, but interesting experience. They were really nice, and once again left after I dazedly explained what I was doing. Although they had me stand against the wall with my hands in plain sight while I talked to them. Saturday night I was woken up by someone playing a harmonica near my car, who went at it for almost an hour. Last night a cop woke me up at 11pm, and for the first time was somewhat rude. I only explained that I was forgoing an apartment so I could instead support some children, which didn’t change his attitude towards me. After checking my ID and calling it in, the cop proceeded to tell me that “it’s technically illegal” to sleep in my car. This directly contradicts what I was told earlier by a policeman who said “it’s not technically illegal to sleep in your car, but you will probably be woken up again by us again.” However, this cop had woke me up at 11am though, so he might have meant it’s not illegal to take a nap in my car, while the second cop was telling me it’s illegal to sleep overnight in my car. After telling me it was illegal to sleep in my car the cop said he would not make me move “tonight,” unless someone called in and said I was a disturbance (which almost sounded like an assumptions). Soon after I had crawled back into bed the crazy person with the harmonica showed back up, except this time he brought his gypsy band with him. They had a guitar, and what might have been a drum, but it kind of sounded like they were just kicking a box around. Between the lot of them they had a grand old time, but they need to practice a little more before they make an album.  I’m not sure what time they left, but I slept soundly until 6:45am when another cop taped on my window. I could tell immediately he was going to be a lot nicer because he did not pound on my window like the cop the night before, he just tapped. He was an older cop who was indeed very nice. I began this time be explaining that I was doing a project on what it was like to be homeless, and then added in the part about supporting the children with the money I was saving. He checked my id but seemed to be the first cop who was kind of impressed. During the course of the conversation I tried to indirectly ask if it was permissible to sleep in my car (i.e. is it actually illegal). He didn’t say one way or the other, but did say that the top of the parking garage was a good place to be, and talked about some folks in the past that had slept in their cars after falling on hard times. He also mentioned that some of the regulars might even begin to recognize my car and leave me alone. After this he initiated a hand shake and smiled as he left, whereas the cop the night before didn’t even respond when I asked how his night was going.


It has been fascinating to interact with all these cops in such a short period of time. I would have never predicted it, but every cop has handled the situation very differently. The younger cops are much more hesitant, and seem quite suspicious that im going to pull a gun out of my car (one of the young cops dint even want to see my id after I offered, because it was in my car). The older cops are much more confident, but one has been the meanest, and one has been the nicest. Over all I have learned that there is not a hard-and-fast rule for what they do, there is a law, but they are the on-scene judges who interpret the law and decide which parts they are going to apply. In the future I am curious to see how different explanations will cause these cops to react differently (emphasizing my experience being a project, verse it being a social good effort).     

Beyond that life continues to be a curiosity. Today I walked into the restroom and found one of the toilets twisted sideways (but still operational). Im not sure what the janitors do when things like that happen, but im glad I don’t half to deal with it. Thankfully I was able to joyfully worship the Lord this morning after the cop left, but tonight I think I am going to try to sleep in a Walmart parking lot. It is humbling to not have a private space, but God continues to be my peace.

For anyone trying to do something like this (and is counting dollars) I have found that it is not cost effective to buy perishables and store them in an ice chest. For the most part I have been spending $1/day on ice, which ends up costing the same as the meat I am keeping cold. Because of this I have started buying canned meats, which cost a little more, but don’t have to be kept cold. Getting away from the ice chest will also give me a significant amount of room (relatively speaking :)

Week Two

I have been homeless for two weeks now. Thus far, I have gone swimming
every morning, and swimming with my head in the water is not quite as
horrible as it first was. I consider this quite an accomplishment
since I have always hated swimming. I am also much better at avoiding
attention. For example, I have discovered that if I arrive at the top
of the parking garage (where I sleep) and there is another person
there, I pretend to be talking on my cell phone. One of these days, I
might actually call someone, but for now, I have just been praying into
my phone until the other person leaves. So far, I have kept a careful
record of my costs, which in total averages $12.30/day. However, this
includes food and capital costs (things I will be using long term).
Thus far, I have been able to maintain a balanced diet with $4.50/day
and have spent an average of $4 a day on capital cost items. This
means my actual cost of living in the car has been $3.80, which is
$9.20 less than living in an apartment. While living in my car is not
convenient, it’s not horrible either, and I am excited that it affords
the opportunity to potentially sponsor nine children through a year of
school. At the one month mark I will be going to Food for the Hungry
and selecting a few children from there to sponsor.

My challenge to anyone reading this is to consider how you can cut
one dollar out of your daily budget, and instead use that dollar to
sponsor a child. If the average young couple cut just one dollar out
of their daily budget, they would be able to sponsor about six kids
from the time they enter 1st grade, all the way through high school.
In 2009, the median American household income was $49,777 (about
$136/day). While we complain about not having enough money, we forget
that 5% of this income could support seven children. A radical family
who gave 50% of their income (and still be one of the richest
households in the world) could support 68 children. If they gave this
amount throughout their lives they would be able to fully sponsor 408
children through school (68 children * 60 years / 10 years to get
through school). While that would be a challenged, it’s interesting to
think that we could completely alter the lives of more people, than
the number of Facebook friends we have.

All that said, remember two things, 1) we at war, 2) we have a
tremendous amount of power to make a difference. If we are willing to
focus less on what we don’t have and more on what we do have we could
very quickly change the course of history. My challenge to everyone
reading this is to cut one dollar out of your budget tomorrow, and
give it to the war effort.

okay, I think i fixed the problem that was preventing people from leaving comments

One Week!

I have been homeless for one week, and to celebrate God sent fireworks. From the top of the parking garage I had a perfect view of a short, but violent thunderstorm in hills. As I continue to work through the experience of living in my car I have been amused to watch my human nature continue to make it’s demands. While I struggle to keep everything organized and tucked away, I find myself thinking; “if only my car was a little bigger, I would be content.” Once again I see that no matter how much or how little a person has, they will always crave “a little more.” This has strengthened my resolve to ignore the mirage of “a little more,” and instead press into my quest for living water, and finding the joy of becoming who I was made to be.