A Disappointed Eight Year Old

Yesterday evening Julie and I loaded the girls and their bikes in our car to go have some family fun and get some exercise on a gorgeous fall day in Pittsburgh.  We drove about twenty feet on our journey when we saw an eight year old boy from our neighborhood walking briskly toward our house with a joyful look on his face.  He saw us slowly driving away from the house, a look of horror and disappointment came over him, he threw his arms up in the air, sunk his head and shoulders down, turned around, and started dragging his feet while walking away in the other direction.  On the drive back to our house about an hour later, we saw our young friend with several other boys throwing rocks at vacant row homes and playing in an overgrown lot next to a crack house.

I wish we could be at our house all of the time to welcome every child who stops by to visit us... but we can't (obviously).  Our home often provides a safe place for kids to hang out, especially during after school hours when children tend to get in trouble the most.  We continue to hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will work on more people's hearts to want to move to Homewood to invest in the children of this neighborhood.  It is my hope that the children would have many options of safe homes to go to on any given evening of the week.  That is not some "pie in the sky" dream.  As seen in the story I shared to open this post, many children in Homewood are just looking for people to invest in them.  They are often not even looking for programs.  They just search for places to belong and people to fill in some of the gaps they may have.

I can understand that most Christians in the Pittsburgh area do not want to move to Homewood.  That type of thinking and living is dangerous.  It goes against the American Dream and the values of upward mobility.  Plus, our society is set up to embrace safety, reason, and the pursuit of comfort and our own personal happiness.  Besides, Christians are called to many different types of things.  Some are called to live in the suburbs, while others may be called to live in the city.  So I am not saying that every Christian is called to move to Homewood.  Still... I will continue to pray that more people would move to Homewood to live and invest in this community.  We are waiting for more help.  And the kids are waiting for more people to hang out with.  Maybe some day I won't have to watch the reaction of a disappointed eight year old moping as he walked away from our house, but instead his next thought would be "That's OK.  I'll go and see what the '_____s' are up to!"  There are other families doing just that in Homewood, but not nearly enough to meet the needs of all the kids.

When we as Christians intentionally distance ourselves from the poor with our lifestyles, then we intentionally neglect God's call to be available to and build relationships with the vulnerable people of this world that have great importance in the Kingdom of God.  God blesses us when we are obedient to his call to care for the poor, orphans, widows, aliens, and others.  By distancing ourselves from them, we may be ignoring a significant portion of the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  When we choose to live alongside the marginalized people of this world, I can say from first hand experience that God blesses us in profound ways.  Besides... street chalk, bubbles, dart tag and pick up football games are too much fun to pass up.  The city can be a great place to raise a family.  When families move to minister to people in the inner city amidst broken systems and with marginalized people, then suddenly the values of the gospel become real on a daily basis.  The parents model for their children in an authentic, real-life way how God can use us at all times to demonstrate the love of Christ to hurting people.  Again... I am not saying that this can't be done in the suburbs, or affluent parts of urban areas, or rural areas.  There are hurting people there that need to have families share the profound love of Jesus Christ with them, and I know several Christian friends and families that have clearly been called to do that.  I am saying, though, that there are many benefits to raising a family in a neighborhood like Homewood that may not be obvious by worldy standards but that are important to God's heart for reaching vulnerable people.  I know few will be called, but there's no harm in praying that God would bring more people to invest in the children in Homewood.