Immature Gangland

I will take advantage of a few minutes on a friend's computer to make a short post (at least I assume it will be short). It may be a while before I get my own computer back into function as I have to wait for the company to send me a box, backup what I need from my computer, send it in to who-knows-where for warranty repair and wait until it comes back before I can resume "normal" communication again. Last night I rode to the men's group with a friend traveling from the same town I am staying in right now. After the group was over (which was again very personal and open by a number of men) we began talking as we rode home together. I began relating to him the problems we are having in the neighborhood where my daughter is living and where I am staying with her. Apparently there are a number of kids in the neighborhood who, for whatever reasons unknown to us, have decided to harass us. I assume they think we should not be living there and want us to leave. Maybe its because we do not share their skin color or ethnic background or maybe it is other reasons. At any rate, over the past few weeks they occasionally take it upon themselves to through various bottles and other items at our house trying to frighten and intimidate us. In fact, this morning I went out on the porch and found broken light bulbs, a spray can lodged in the siding and broken glass with various colors of liquid lying all about. As I was starting to say, I was explaining this to my friend and shared that what I see is an offer of contract. He was baffled at what I meant so I went on to explain. These kids are offering me a contract whereby they will supply the violence and intimidation in hopes that we will respond with fear and/or anger. If I accept the contract (which I certainly am naturally prone to do) then they will have succeeded and will be in control of us and to some extent our future. They are trying to achieve some level of power over us and the temptation is very strong to respond in the same way which is really what they are hoping we will do. I have been thinking and praying about this a lot lately trying to see it from heaven's perspective. It is very difficult for me to realistically think of alternate ways of responding. I have thought of going and talking to their parents (I am pretty sure I know which house they live in) but I quickly realized that if my own attitude and spirit is not right and strong enough, I could easily be quickly overwhelmed by a negative response and then not know how to act and feel. I need to have a new imagination and a whole new view of reality before I get into this kind of intense emotional situations. My friend and I talked about this as we drove up to our house and we sat there for some time talking after we arrived. To my surprise, right in front of us coming down the sidewalk and the street the very same group of kids (maybe aspiring to form a gang or something) came walking past with bottles in their hands obviously intent on doing more of the same. We both sat there watching them pass and then wondered what to do. My friend at this point suggested that we pray, not only for them but because we both felt a need to really talk to God from our hearts and experience His presence in our lives more than we have before. So we sat there in the darkness and simply opened up our feelings and desires to God together. A little while later the same group came around again and passed us walking down the street playing with empty bottles and still seeming to look for mischief. It is pointless to call the police. We have done that a number of times and they seem to be getting tired of hearing from us. I think that God want me to do something different, something outside my comfort zone, something that gives God a chance to reveal Himself in ways we are not comfortable with. As I got out of the car a few minutes later and walked to the house, I heard a noise down the street as the kids threw their stuff at a house about a block away and took off running. I realized then that maybe we aren't the only ones on the receiving end of their harassment. I am also aware that, for all my profession of Christianity, I have not yet spoken to a single one of our neighbors since we have been staying here. I like to think about doing it and maybe even talk about doing it. And I definitely like telling other people they should do it. But when it comes right down to doing it myself I seem to draw a blank if not some other emotions. Maybe that's where real community would help me. Yes, that's it! I need someone to bolster me by going with me to do it. Well, that certainly would help, but its not materializing anytime soon that I can see. So, that's what's happening right now as winter returns to us to sub-freezing temperatures after we were just getting used to nice 60-80 degree days of sunshine.

nshine.