Pitchforks and Burning Lava to Drug Free Peer

At approximately the 53-second mark in this clip from the original Rocky, I was standing where the camera would have been sitting as I was talking for the first time ever with a new sense of calmness and decency and oneness with a young lady who, 5 years ago, had pitchforks and burning lava encasing her heart. This young lady was filled with rage and disgust at the world in those years.

And yet not long ago she and I conversed as peers as she shared with me how she found healing and recovery from opioids. She was still there on the street for her own drug-independent reasons and drug-free from that which would otherwise kill her in a minute.

It's moments like this that I thank God for the privilege of serving and getting to know the people on the streets of Kensington.