Life & Death

Last night I received a text from one of my teens asking me to pray for him. One of his friends from his workplace was found murdered in Yuma. I could tell from his text that this was unbelievable and overwhelming! I had just recently worked through a shooting in our neighborhood where two of the uncles of my little guys decided to go to war. The end result was one was lying in a pool of blood and the other fled into the ally. I was quickly informed of the details when picking up some   of the little kids to do a McDonalds run that Friday.

Video games have taken over the minds of most youth and young adults. I haven’t gotten hooked by Modern Warfare or Grand Theft Auto so I can’t comprehend that killing on the TV screen makes it too easy to do this in real life. I think what is even more shocking is how my little guys who live in this neighborhood can go on as if nothing happened? I’m still overwhelmed by my dad’s passing and all of this I knew about and had the privilege of being by his side.

I received a text earlier this morning from one of my teens who is having her little baby boy today. This is both exciting and really scary. There are no guarantees when it comes to raising a kid when you are still a kid. I know that life comes out of death and death comes out of life. I get tired of the ongoing violence that most seem to think will stop when they get a bigger baseball bat or gun. The reality is that violence only begets violence. I know there isn’t any quick solution. A change of heart is the only solution that will see the killing stop.

I will help my one friend attempt to find his deceased friend’s family and I will visit my teen mom in the hospital and see her little guy. Life goes on……. Yet, I know that my redeemer lives and has shown me grace as I have faced both life and death today.