I was on call for the fourth of July weekend and available in case there were any emergencies. I showed up to our dispatch center on Friday night ready to drive our guests to shelter. As I was walking to pick up the van, low and behold a faithful volunteer appeared ready to drive! I gave him the keys and “posted up” in our meal center. I talked with a man in line who was from Denver. It was his first day in Seattle and he was surprised to find out how close Nightwatch was to Lumen Field and T Mobile Park. We talked about sports and the Bible. He was able to get a shelter bed and thought Nightwatch was, “pretty wild!” I agreed and told him that we were ground zero for people experiencing homelessness. The van was low on gas, so I hopped in with our volunteer and filled it up between shelter runs. When we returned, I talked with a woman who stays in our shelter. She tried to get me to take her to the gas station so she could get a box of special creamer for her morning coffee. She was delightful to talk with, wildly offensive, and was clearly planning ahead! There was a group of guys who asked if I was a priest and thanked me for helping them find free clinic resources. They loved the food! Hot links, potato salad, and watermelon. I told them that I was glad the food was good and that I loved to see the people serving the food smiling and excited to be at Nightwatch. They agreed. “You can tell when people put time and care into food. Everything tastes better when your kind!” I prayed with a man out-front that I have known for a while. He was drunk and said that he hadn’t slept for five days. Hopefully, he found a safe place to sleep it off. A man came by showing the staff a picture of a missing woman on his phone and asked if we had seen her. We hadn’t and encouraged him to file a police report and told him some other places to look. He claimed to be her “friend” and I hope he was. A former resident in our senior housing program came for dinner with his buddy. It was great to catch up and chat. After I brought over some adult diapers and Bibles from my office I stood out front, looked toward the sky and thanked God. There is no place I would rather be to celebrate the fourth of July!

Michael Cox