Memorable events from the past two weeks…

Oct. 3 - A fatherless man I’m reading the Bible with cries over the realization that he has had a loving Father present with him all his life.  Having this story in common, I cry too…

Oct. 4 - Neighborhood moms, on their way to pick up their kids from school, dodge behind parked cars as two cars speed by firing five shots into the sky.  Everyone is jarred but okay.  A reassuring voice of the Lockwood Elementary principal can be heard on the loud speaker instructing the teachers to keep their kids in their classrooms until they receive further notice from the LAPD.  After talking with the parents, I walk 3 blocks further and pick up my own son at his school, mad about what just happened.  Then the janitor of my son’s school explains that this kind of reckless shooting happens every night in his own neighborhood of South LA…

Oct. 7 – No one shows up to our first women seekers group (a gathering to discuss faith and Jesus in light of women’s issues).  So, in the spirit of Jesus’ story about what to do when the people you invited don’t show up (Luke 14:23), Katie and Meredith - accompanied by their friends Scarlett and Krista - go outside and invite other neighborhood women.  They drop what they are doing and come instantly!  The evening goes wonderfully.  It could not have been better orchestrated! 

Oct. 9 – The fatherless man gives me a personalized card: “Thank you for helping me find my Father.”  He tells me he and his wife spent three hours reading and discussing the Gospel of Mark together the previous night!  

Oct. 11 - A new Jesus-follower from a newly planted church in Hollywood that disintegrated last year (we’ve fellowshiped with them in the past) calls us up.  She is looking for another simple, organic church to plug into…

Oct. 12 – Lost tells me two of his friends were just caught and arrested in a police car chase in our Village.  Soon after the fatherless man and his wife and kids bring us homemade soup and they spend the evening serving and encouraging us!  With very little money to their name, they are living out Jesus’ words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive!”

Categories: crime
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Today while Ed and I are walking through Virgil Village (our section of East Hollywood) we ask God to protect us and direct us to someone he wants us to meet.  We enter a local motorcycle shop / coffee bar to meet the owner of this new business.  He tells us about the stabbing that happened across the street from his business a few weeks ago, and the all-day stand-off that ensued between the LAPD and the stabber who holed up in his apartment.  After this discussion and some more chit chat about motorcycles we tell the young owner why we moved into the neighborhood and offer to pray for his business.  We thank God for this interaction and commit ourselves to come back in a few weeks to see how things are going. 

Our prayer: Who next, Lord?  We go around the block and run into two youth sharing a forty on the front steps of an apartment complex.  After clearing up some initial confusion about who we really are (this is not the first time I’ve been mistaken for a cop), we begin a really good conversation with our neighbors.  One kid is celebrating freedom after 14 days of jail “for crystal meth”.  The other is drowning his sorrows because his mother, who has been on life support is about to die any day.  Ed and I offer our condolensces and offer to pray and give the kid a ride to the hospital in East LA where his mom is located.  The kid gives us his cell phone number.  Ed tells them we’re Jesus-followers and why we’re here to start up new churches in homes.  They say that’s cool.  After a few minutes we leave, thanking God for these two precious kids, and commit to praying for them.  I wonder what will happen when we call tomorrow to offer the kid a ride to the hospital to visit his mom.

Categories: crime
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I am confident that in just a short time, our best stories will be about God transforming lives of people who are becoming devoted to Jesus and growing in community as they share Christ with others around them! For now, the best stories are of how God is opening doors, choosing which people and when we begin those relationships. This one’s about a guy I’ll call Memo (I’ve changed his name).

After I broke my ankle, I was really depressed. A big part of that was wondering why God had allowed a huge STOP sign to enter into the stream of relationship-building that I had been involved in with ferocity. Not only did it stop me from going out every day and visiting or doing things with other moms in the neighborhood, but it prevented Phil from having the time to commit to the people he had been getting to know because he had to be home much of the time to care for me and the boys. We felt frustrated because we couldn’t be working to form and build relationships like we wanted. No “street-work” was getting done…or so we thought!

One evening (about 11:00 at night) I was lying in bed feeling useless. Phil was working in the other room on some long overdue emails and administrative work. All of a sudden we heard gunshots ring out on the street outside, with a car screeching away down our block right afterward. Then I heard Phil’s feet pounding down the stairs and the door slam behind him as he ran out to investigate.

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Categories: gangs, crime
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