The City

Warning: The content of this post is slightly disturbing and sad, but not meant for a shock, so read to the end.

Last Tuesday a young man was shot in the park across from my house. It was 4pm, warmest day so far, and the park was full of people. He was playing basketball, and a gang-hired hit-man shot him 4 times in the head. Many of my students play basketball on that court. One of them was on his way to the court at the time.

The next day, another of my students (who lives in arguably the worst area of the city) was robbed at gunpoint. They took his silver wallet chain (looked expensive, wasn't really, thankfully). This same student lost a friend to gang-related violence last week, too.

There has been a significant increase of violence in the neighborhood around the school. Recently targeting the elderly.

I assure you, there's a point to this post.

You see, I work at a school whose mission is to impact the kids of our city. Not in theory, but in reality. I also attend a church that wants to be in the city to impact the city (although I'm not sure to which city demographic it is truly reaching).

We are called to be "in the world" (one of the most frequently used quotations from the Bible, I think). Every time something like this happens, it becomes more apparent to me that my job, my ministry, is necessary. My students need love SO badly, so incredibly badly. I am called here to love my students through whatever is in their lives, and a lot of them live in places in which violence is a harsh reality.

Yet, when we love them, patiently and repeatedly even when it is not what we want to do, we see them grow. Today I was able to show one of my 9th grade boys his grade - his grade that he has raised from a fairly low F in the last quarter (and low Ds the previous semester) to an 86%. 86%! As I showed him, and he beamed literally from ear to ear, tears formed in my eyes because, after all of the many frustrating conversations with and about this young man, I was finally able to show him that he is succeeding!

God uses His children to bring about His mission of Justice, Redemption, and Grace in the world.