Divine Appointments

Last Spring when I volunteered at Central HS, there was one boy who repeatedly tried to upstage me in front of his friends. He tried to belittle me to the delight of the crowd that had gathered. I liked him because of his creativity and enthusiasm, but was saddened by his need to demean me in order to get attention.
Skip to Friday night, driving the bus around the neighborhood, and who should step up onto the bus, but this young man from Central. He recognized me immediately and waited to see how I would respond to him. I greeted him and proceeded to give him as much positive attention as possible through the evening.
God has such a sense of humor. It's good to see my consistency in the school and neighborhood rewarded with relational connections that allow the gospel to be fleshed out and spoken over time. Thanks for praying.

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.