Van Conversation

"Hey Mark, these are great books your kids have back here in the van."
"Yeah, I love being a dad so I get to read my favorite children's books to my kids"
"So you read books to your kids... like a bedtime story or something?"
"Yeah, pretty much every night"
"So your family is kind of like one of those TV families?"
"I guess ... it may be hard to believe, but some parents still hang out and read books to their kids."

Fun on Pingree 2

So while Kristen was hosting her Bible Study Fellowship group for lunch today, the drug house on our street was raided by the police. Fortunately, it happened in such a way that it went unnoticed by the guests (mainly women from the suburbs). Now I need to make the call to the police station to thank them for their service.

In other news, I had the privilege of being in the middle of a fight at the high school today. I was just about ready to leave when I saw two girls arguing. I decided to step between them (maybe not a good idea) and their words became flesh as they crawled over me to get to each other. I might be on youtube later today since the fight drew a crowd of about 75 kids who crowded around and videotaped the entire thing on their cell phones. I managed to get out with only a small tear in my shirt. I proceeded to leave the school for a meeting, but I wonder if there were/will be paybacks or other flare ups later today. In contrast, I did have some good conversation with the usual gambling suspects today, so I still leave encouraged.

Question from Jamison

"Why do people need to paint big words on the side of empty buildings?"

Fun on Pingree

A new drug house has opened on our block, right next to the one that got shut down and eventually burned to the ground last spring. So I called the Police Drug Unit and reported the house two weeks ago. Then I called the next day and reported it again (the same tactic I had used last winter). The officer replied "this house was reported yesterday, why are you calling again?" I told him that I thought persistence would help to get the issue addressed more quickly than last time (about 3 months). He replied, "Would you like me to call your work and remind me of your daily tasks each day?" which kind of made sense to me, so I listened as he described their process a little more. I apologized for my impatience and asked how long I should wait before calling again. "Two weeks" he said.

I'm pretty sure I'll be calling again today. Not with arrogance, but with gentleness and firmness that display my care and concern for my neighborhood. We press on.

Last time we went through this, we prayed for redemption and salvation to come from the drug house being shut down. Then we saw one of our church members coming out of the house and felt sick. So I prayed about it, and eventually confronted her about it the next Sunday. She responded with remorse and the next week enrolled in an in-patient treatment facility for 120 days. She is since back in town, taking college classes and serving in our church again. To God be the glory. He answers our prayers beyond our wildest imagination.