Behold

Last night we went to Behold the Lamb of God, The Hope of Man. It was fabulous. What talent! It's a mystery to me how Jon sang that lineage song. What a blessing. I hope someone taped one of the performances so we can have it on DVD. it definitely would be a family favorite to be played each year at Christmas time.

God gave Greg and I an interesting ministry experience yesterday. We went to take a walk after lunch. Normally it is our 'twice around our block, once around the block across the street' mile. Kristen asked us where we would be walking and confirmed it once or twice, and that's what we told her. However, when we shut the door, I had a thought to walk to the park, a 2-mile walk in a near straight line south of our house. Greg said, "I want to walk to the park." Well, plans change! The last time this happened, we ended up counseling a couple in our neighborhood for a few months and helping them stay married.

We walked to the park, swung on some swings, where I giggled my silly head off! We headed back home and heard some loud yelling a few houses in front of us. My instinct was to turn down Tom Lombardo's street and head home a different way. Greg, being the direct, confronter type, pulled my hand forward. I reminded him about safety (a mother's instinct to is stay alive until her kids are out of the nest). He said I had the same big God he did and we were going to be protected. Can't argue with that!

Fortunately he at least had us cross the street so we weren't directly in front of the confrontation. About 6 caucasian boys in their late teens were yelling obscenities at these two hispanics walking away to a house a few doors down. They had a ten speed bike and were throwing it over and over into the street, threatening the two. As we continued to walk, we saw many neighbors come out and stand in their garages, looking to see what would happen next. A police car whizzed down the street and stopped in front of the boys' house. Then a second police car. When we got about 4-5 houses past the altercation, Greg stopped at one house with a hispanic lady in her late teens or early 20's and a teenage hispanic boy. Greg made a comment and she replied and then we learned their story.

There had been many altercations with this house and theirs. The police talk to both families and nothing can be done. A young parolee in the house had been riding the bike when a BMW parked across the street from the first house had side-swiped him. He got off the bike and made his way home. He came out limping while we were talking to the lady. One of the police officers came and questioned Greg and I and took all our information. Then the next police officer did the same. When we were done telling what we had seen, we went over to the lady and now about 5 other hispanic young men who had come out of the house and prayed for them. We learned that the lady's little sister gets off the bus in front of the boys' house and once they pulled a gun and she ran home.

This was an important experience for me in ways I can't blog about yet. Though I was a little scared at the hostility of the young men swearing and throwing the bike, I felt totally at ease with the other family. Through tattoos, piercings, low pants and backwards baseball caps, these were very sweet people. Greg reminded me I didn't necessarily know the whole story, which is a good reminder, but I felt like I didn't see the exterior, I saw the heart.