Crazy Day!

A Crazy Day

I always get a lot of questions from people about what actually does a pastor do and especially in the context of doing a multi-cultural church that has a passion for doing mercy and justice work. Let me give you a snapshot of just a Friday night to a Saturday night.

We are blessed to have a Somali neighbor who lives a couple of houses down from us. She is an amazing lady because she juggles having six kids and a husband who is unemployed but going through training. She very graciously has taken in a 10-year-old boy from her kid’s school. He does have a mother who does have a house in our larger neighborhood. The sad fact is that the mom is on drugs and has essentially allowed our neighbor to care for her son the last month. He for all intents and purposes lives with our neighbor and seldom sees his mom or sister.

The challenge has been as to whether or not to call CPS or the Phoenix Police to have them intervene in a difficult situation. This situation came to a head when the mom continues to come over and use our neighbor for food, get money, which usually is from us and to continue to live on the wild side. She has threatened our neighbor repeatedly that if she calls the police she will have her boy friend beat her up. The problem arouse when our neighbor took her to Circle K to get some food and realized as they were walking out that she had shoplifted a bunch of candy. Our neighbor rightfully protested and didn’t want to drive her any where without her taking back to stolen goods. The lady screamed at our neighbor that she would scream and both of them would get in trouble.

Now after a busy Friday after a 4-day vacation I was ready to collapse and veg that night. Instead our neighbor knocks on the door and obviously is totally unglued about allowing the lady to shoplift and put her in a situation that she might get in trouble. After about an hour of discussing the situation I finally said let’s go to Circle K and talk to the manager and tell him about the lady and ask for his help. Our neighbor wanted to do this but was totally scared. So we drove around the corner after praying and was pleasantly surprised to see the same man on duty. He was quick to greet our neighbor and go out of his way to say he knew she hadn’t done anything and that the other lady had stolen repeatedly from his store. The man gave our neighbor a free drink and took down a description of what she had taken.

We drive back to our house and I again bring up the subject that we need to call the police and file a report about the mom continuing to abandon her son and also make repeated threats against our neighbor. I made the call as our neighbor was literally shaking. We reassured her that she had nothing to fear but that she was doing what was right and standing up for the little boy who deserved better. After talking to the non-emergency person the officers arrived about an hour later. It was great to have two officers come to our house. They both listened intently and took notes and explained that they had to talk with the boy and then call CPS.

We walked them out the front door and waited for about an hour. They came back and explained that the little boy had broken down and said he was tired of his mom’s way of living. They officers assured him and our neighbor that his life would change. It had been a long day as I looked at my iphone to see that it was midnight and I had to get up early in the morning for a car wash with our youth. Just as I was going to bed I checked my phone to see a txt from one of the kid’s mom asking if I would help her go to the bank and get her delinquent rent check to the manager so as not to get evicted.

As I pulled up to take my friend to the bank it struck me how most people in the urban centers of cities live this way, hand to mouth. I had never heard of someone paying their utilities by paying a machine at a grocery store. Everyone pays a couple of dollars at a time to keep on their power. The different power companies in the area allow customers to do this especially when the summer heat is horrible. As we pull up to the bank my friend gets out to cash her check. I then make a call to someone in our church that is having a baby with special needs. I connect with the dad and he quickly shares about what is presently happening and that his wife is in the process of going back to the hospital and that the baby might come in the next couple of hours. My friend comes back form the bank with a forlorn look on her face; she needed two forms of identification and had forgotten to bring a second ID. So we drive back to her apartment to get her other ID and go back to the back, get the money and then have to go to a Circle K to get a money order to pay the back rent.

I was so glad that I had done most of my sermon prep during the week and really only had to finish my outline for the keynote presentation. I join my friend who then takes her cashier’s check to the apartment office and then hopes that she doesn’t have to go to court. The lady assures her that bringing the check stopped the court process and then has her sign something else that explains what else she has to pay and when to become current on her rent. A big sigh of relief came from my friend as we walked out of the office.

The weather had been on the rainy side, which is unusual for Phoenix so we ended up canceling the car wash until the following weekend. So I came home and actually kicked back and did a little reading of Les Mez and listened to some music on my ipod. I eventually had to get ready to oversee a table at the downtown ASU campus’ fall opening. This was an opportunity to connect with of the new students and potential recruit a few for doing New City Mercy Projects. I also brought a long a couple of the girls from our South Ranch Tutoring Club. They had proven themselves to be accomplished face painters. So we spend a couple of hours handing out free candy, painting a few faces and talking about New City. My gals end up talking with someone else helping with the table. After one of them asks the Episcopal whether he is married and what it is like to be a priest. The priest proceeds to explain that he is gay and not presently married. This began a discussion that lasted a couple of hours as we walked around the campus and drove home about whether there can be lady priest or if being gay is a sin.

I come home to my Anne, who had also been at the downtown campus and our son and his girlfriend abandon us so we eat something from the hole in the wall restaurant around the corner. The close of a busy two days that taught me much about the life of the typical person in South Phoenix.

Dave