Murder,TLT and Praying

Murder is such a disgusting word! I hate it, I hate the thought of it, I hate the sound of the word, I hate the action etc. Murder hurts, it destroys sometimes innocent people. This weekend it affected people I love...people I care about and people I pour my heart and soul into, people I would do anything in the world for. What do you do when your driving through the neighborhood and kids, yes kids you love are sitting in handcuffs on a street corner and there's been a murder in the neighborhood, my heart sunk, I felt so helpless, I did everything I could to hold back the tears, but I couldn't. It's real life, it happens on the streets every single day, but why MY kids? It's such a hard thing to understand, such a tough thing to grasp, but the truth is, it's expected here, expected of MY kids, it's a way of life on the streets to be caught up in gangs, to hang with the wrong crowd, to live your life in a reckless way, because unfortunately for most of them this is ALL they know.

I was reminded yesterday that's why God has called us here to this place in Baltimore, to save these kids from the streets, to encourage them through the Lord, to love them where they are while pulling them up. I was extremely encouraged yesterday when a middle schooler came up to me and said I am going to pass out tracts on my way home, these people in the streets need Jesus, and then she proceeded to tell me about the murder. It's so cool to see a Middle Schooler stepping out of her comfort zone to share the gospel with her neighbors! It made me smile in a time of sadness!

So we finally had our meeting with the TLT yesterday and honestly I left feeling a little big disappointed, I think out of the 9 that came to the meeting 1-3 of them might take is seriously, they suddenly don't have time in their schedules, or just don't know if they want to do it, or they just weren't into it, however there is one boy who I absolutely adore, who I think is going to step up to the plate and want to be a leader, the answers on his leader application were amazing, he said things like I want to learn how to be a good leader and lead my peers, when asked what he'd like to see more of at Metro kids he said things like more bible study time, bible memory verses etc. I can't wait to work with him.

So there are a few things you can be praying for:

Finances- That they'll continue to come in
The Neighborhood- In general Satan has been on the prowl both in and outside of our building the past few weeks
Metro Kidz- Please just surround it in prayer, it has been crazy and Satan has made his presence completely known