And that’s not all.

He rarely had a bathroom to use.

He was so poor he begged for money.

He used tape to hold his shoes together.

For a while, he walked barefoot.

He was almost beat up four times.

He was cussed at and kicked off property—including churches.

And he said he was ignored and forgotten “by thousands.”

In the middle of it all, Mike also said he “came to know some of the most incredible people and the goodness of the Lord.”

Mike’s story is amazing, but maybe the most amazing part is this: Mike did it all by choice.

The Vision
Mike and a friend spent five months in six different cities living on the streets, dealing with hunger, danger, exhaustion, depression and more, all on a journey to better understand the problem of homelessness. For him, it was all about putting his faith into action.

“I was in church one day, and the pastor was challenging us to ‘be who we say we are,’ ” Mike says. “I asked myself, ‘Am I living as a Christian should live?’ To me, faith was a lot more than memorizing some verses or going to church every week.”

Over the next 16 months, God continued to give Mike a vision. He had already helped at homeless ministries through high school, and his heart was stirred. Through tons of research, prayer, talking to pastors and other godly counsel, he finally decided he needed to hit the streets.

“There are so many ways to get involved with helping the needy, but this idea resonated so much because it required so much,” Mike says. “It’s so similar to our faith—we dive in, and it requires all of us.”

There were plenty of questions. How would he survive on the streets? Could he actually impact people’s lives while having to focus on his own survival? What would happen when he left college for a semester, and what would happen once he walked away from a comfortable life in Santa Barbara, Calif.?

Mike knew the answer to one question: He didn’t want to go alone. Of course, how would you react if someone asked you if you wanted to live on the streets for five months?

“I asked guys at school and Bible school,” Mike says. “I got a lot of funny reactions.”

Then just two months before he was planning to leave he met Sam, a friend of a friend who was visiting Santa Barbara. Only a few days later Sam told Mike he felt like God was telling him to go.

So they left.

On the Road
The guys traveled to Denver; then Washington, D.C.; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Phoenix; and San Diego.

The lessons came quickly. Remember that first time they ate out of the trash? Well, Mike said it took only two weeks to be hungry enough to get to that point.

“Poverty erodes a person’s sense of dignity very quickly,” he says. “We saw a guy throw away his lunch. We were hungry, and it didn’t matter.”

Another thing Mike learned quickly is how draining it was to live on the streets. “It’s really a hard, demanding, exhausting existence, even when you’re not doing very much,” he says. “At home when you need a restroom, you go to the bathroom. When you’re hungry, you walk to the refrigerator. But when you’re outdoors, the majority of your time is spent meeting basic needs: finding shelter, panhandling for money, walking everywhere.”

The more he clung to his everyday survival, the more Mike clung to God. “Once on the streets, I realized the world is worse than I imagined it, so God has to be even more powerful than I imagined. It gave me so much hope.”

He also learned how much a giving heart can mean to someone who’s in need. “When someone comes by and shows you the littlest kindness, it makes such a big difference—especially when it’s done out of the love of Christ.”

Over the months, Mike and Sam learned the finer points of living on the streets: the best places to sleep to escape wind or rain, the best places and times to panhandle, and even tricks to getting around.

“Sometimes we’d get someone’s bus pass that he wasn’t going to use, and we could hop on a bus,” Mike says.

But even their best efforts came up empty at times. One night they played guitars for money at a busy intersection and made only $1.18 in four hours.

“On those nights we’d try to find a doggie bag or takeout bag somewhere or maybe go to one of the missions. Trash was a last resort,” he says.

The Challenges
There were times he was scared—such as when he woke up at 3 a.m. and someone was going through his backpack. And there were plenty of low points where Mike thought about being back at school, hanging out with his friends.

One of the lowest came in Portland in the pouring rain. Sam and Mike awoke to a surprise. “I felt dirt, grime and junk all over me. We realized the whole area we were sleeping in had flooded,” he says. “Trash, bird feathers, and dirt had caked itself on us. I finally thought, Why in the world are we here? I was tempted to quit.”

But Mike says each low point was countered by faith in God’s Word. “I had to trust and say, ‘God, You are the One who protects me. You are my fortress,’ ” he says.

Mike says four major points kept him going during the toughest times:

1. Mike realized they were homeless by choice, which was something so many others didn’t have. At some point he and Sam would get to go home.

2. They believed that God had called them both to live as if they were truly homeless. “You don’t just bail on something because it doesn’t feel good,” Mike says.

3. Faith that the Lord provides. “He doesn’t leave us or forsake us; we had to believe that.”

4. They had to understand homelessness so they’d know how to make a difference.

Unfortunately, some of the low points came at the hands of other Christians. One time Mike and Sam asked a pastor for help on a Sunday morning. They were out of money, and both were sick and worn down. “He told us, ‘That’s not what we do here, we’re here to worship.’ ”

However, Mike believes God used moments like this to add fuel to his desire to make a difference. “We meet together on Sundays, but how can it have nothing to do with how we treat others?” he says. “We make an impact for Christ not just by words but by coupling them with action. We need to live in such a way that people see Christ through us.”

The Bright Side
Sometimes in the low points God sent hope through others. A guy in San Francisco bought the guys bus tickets to their next city. They found a church in Portland that opened its doors to homeless people every Tuesday night to feed them and show a movie. And a maintenance man at a church saw them sleeping outside and offered them breakfast, then had a pastor talk and pray with them.

And sometimes they even had some fun. Occasionally Mike and Sam had a “jam session,” playing music with other homeless people, or had some good conversations. Other times joy came from watching the sun rise. “You kind of draw the good moments out,” Mike says. “We can glorify God or dwell on how difficult things are. We always had a choice in our circumstances.”

Coming Home
Finally the day came when Mike and Sam were picked up to go home—tired, hungry and drenched from rain. “I showered three times and still saw dirty water from my hair,” he says.

In the evening, they went to dinner and didn’t have to hope for someone’s leftovers. “I ate more at that one dinner than I had in a month,” Mike says.

While he celebrated being reunited with family, friends and his girlfriend, Danae (they eventually married), the transition was challenging. “I went from wondering how I’d survive one day at a time to a refrigerator full of food and a place with a lock on the door,” Mike says. “It took me almost four hours to fall asleep the first night even though I was exhausted.”

He also struggled with simple things like looking people in the eyes when talking to them after so many months of feeling shame while begging.

And while he prepared to return to college, Mike still felt the burdens of the people he had met. “I wondered why I was given the life I was given—I had clothes, a bathroom, a bed. I wasn’t trying to sleep while hearing cars, horns and people while looking up at the stars,” Mike said. “I almost felt guilty. I had these luxuries, but so many people didn’t have that.”

Mike finished college and now works with other ministries to the homeless and encourages others to do the same, reminding them that everyone—even someone on the streets—is made in the image of God.

“Matthew 25:35-40 talks about feeding the hungry and helping ‘the least of these.’ I saw firsthand how big a difference those things can mean to someone who’s in need,” he said. “You realize someone wants to bless you and help you even though they don’t know you.”

Mike says efforts can be small: “Just say hi to someone on the street, ask how they’re doing, ask if they need coffee or prayer or bring them a cheeseburger.”

Mike has seen how the smallest gestures have led to other conversations, even leading someone to Christ, while helping fill a practical need. “It’s an amazing idea that God can use us to answer someone else’s prayers.”

And while you’re helping someone else, who knows how it will strengthen your faith? It sure strengthened Mike’s.

“It’s so easy for us to worry about rent, school, relationships and everything else, but God didn’t let us fall through the cracks even when we were on the streets,” Mike says. “He’s faithful. He’s worthy of our trust, but it may not always be easy.”

Read more about Mike’s experience
Under the Overpass
by Mike Yanikoski
Item code: P00279B