Drive-Bys

Our neighborhood is known for many things.  Whenever the news mentions North Lawndale, the video stream is usually of police lights, and crime tape.  Drive-By shootings though rare are especially highlighted on the news.  There are few things scarier, then someone shooting haphazardly out of a moving car....And it makes for "good" news.

There is a different kind of drive-by that happens in our neighborhood.  It happens very frequently, but never makes the news.

Drive-By Mowings.  

The other day, I came home to a beautifully manicured lawn.  (Please don't mistake, I hadn't cut my lawn in a few weeks.) Someone, I don't know who, mowed my lawn, my neighbor's lawn, and all the grass out by the street.  Not only did they do it secretly, but they did it very very well.  My lawn hasn't looked this good in months.

I was talking to a friend recently who said "there is power in how you describe a neighborhood"

Our neighborhood could be described as (and usually is): "a poverty stricken neighborhood plagued by drugs, gangs, and joblessness.  Where trash and broken glass fill empty lots and broken windows are the norm."  (P.S. broken windows aren't the norm, just so you know)

Or our neighborhood could be described this way:  "a neighborhood full of life, where neighbors sit on portches, say "good-evening", and share groceries with one another.  Anonymous do-gooders sweep the street of trash, mow others lawns, or shovel the side-walk for the whole block in the winter.  Kids play jump rope on the side-walk and a little-league team plays pick-up baseball in the lot on the corner.  An elderly man sets up a basketball hoop for guys on the block and watches them as he sells snow-cones. A young man walks from the 'L' after his day at a community college and a older man sits on his porch playing blues riffs on his guitar"

 Which neighborhood would you want to live in?  How would you like your neighborhood portrayed on the evening news?

I'm desperate to see a piece on drive by mowings on the evening news. But I'm not sure anyone would notice.      

What’s your neighborhood like?  Have you experienced any good drive bys?  Have you participated in any?

Unexpected

"God I don't want to do this" I prayed with my head on the steering wheel as I sat in the driver’s seat of the church van pulled to the side of Ogden Ave.  "This is none of my business, he deserves it anyways..."

 The city is full of surprises.  A day doesn't go by that something happens that I don't expect.  And rarely can I follow my carefully planned schedule.  Something is always coming up.   And usually that "something" draws me closer to God, and helps me see through His eyes.

 Ashley and I live about 3 blocks from Westlawn Gospel Chapel, our church and where I work.  Naturally I walk to back and forth between home a work a few times a day.  Because I am relatively unkown in this neighborhood (Ashley and I moved into North Lawndale a few months ago) my presence creates interest.  You see in my neighborhood a white man my age is usually "up to somethin" (a buyer of drugs or sex, an undercover cop, a real-estate agent, or a "missionary" come to evangelize).  So naturally, I am met with interest, usually polite, sometimes impolite.  (I do have to point out at this point, that my neighborhood is one of the most welcoming, communities I have ever known, our neighbors have accepted us with open arms, in our community "neighbor" is a verb, we have been so loved and looked after here.) 

  Anyways, until I become known to our community, I will still receive the understandable suspicious looks, the calls for "Hey Police!", and "Rocks and Blows".  Its part our journey and it reflects the history of the neighborhood.

 I make a point then, to be friendly, to build relationships; to treat others with respect.  To smile and say "good evening", and more often than not, that’s all it takes, and for responses like "Hey How you doin" to come from the elderly on the porch as well as the guys standing on the street corner.  Every once in a while, though the response is different: 

 Every day, I walk by a group of "gang-bangers" whose spot is on my street.  I try not to act any differently towards them as I do towards my other neighbors.  As I walk by my stomach tightens a little, and its an effort to make simple eye contact and say hello.  (Old stereotypes die hard)  Most of the time, it is fine, but there is one guy, who is extra big and tall who simple stares at me.  No matter what I say, he does not acknowledge my presence, he simply stares coldly.  Every time, I'm filled with anger and fear. "I’m not the police" I think, "I’m not who you think I am".  Sometimes I pray.

 For some reason, as I have prayed, I have gotten the sense that of all the guys standing there, he is the one that I will know.  God is like that.  I've seen it before, repeatedly.  But each time it happens, it's unexpected.

 Which brings me to yesterday.  I've seen this guy around, a lot.  He and his crew drive around in a gray car.   So yesterday (a 45 degree rainy day, I will add) I see the guy and his car.  But this time, he isn't on our corner; he is out on Ogden Ave, in the cold rain, pushing his car, while traffic zooms by.  My first thought "that’s to bad for him, he deserves it."  I sped on past.  I sped on past, that is until I hit the stoplight, a few blocks ahead,  (God didn't let me get out of sight)  As I looked back in my mirror, God reminded me, "He's the one who you will know"  I pulled the car over to the side of the road.  I had to think about this one.

 "God I don't want to do this" I prayed with my head on the steering wheel as I sat in the driver’s seat of the church van pulled to the side of Ogden Ave.  "This is none of my business, he deserves it anyways.  What about safety, this isn't my van, what if he gets mad and hits me, (fear isn't rational sometimes)..."

After a minute of wrestling with God, I slowly, deliberately pulled back around the block.  I parked, and with a little prayer "God help me, Help me see him as you see him", I walked over.

 

"I'm out of gas he said, you got a gas can?"  It was almost a mile to the next gas station, I'm pretty sure he was getting tired of pushing his car in the rain.  After a few moments we decided that the two of us, would drive to the gas station, and his girl friend would stay with the car.  "My name is Noel, like Christmas y'know".  "I'm Jeremy".  It was short trip, and we small talked "what are you doing over there at the church?  Kids stuff?". "Does the church help with people looking for jobs, I’m tired of the streets" (Side note: most gang members I know, are desperate to have a job and make "legitimate" money but without a high school diploma, with a petty record, and without the skills or access to a computer to make a resume, not to mention not having a suit to interview in, and living in neighborhoods where even college grads have trouble finding work, it feels a little hopeless).  "I’m really good with my hands, I can drywall, electrical, almost anything..."  I feebly tell him, "I’ll ask around".  He knows, and I know that the likelihood is slim.

 After getting a gas can and gas we drive back.  After his tank has a little fuel, he smiles (something I hadn’t seen yet) "thanks, he says".  "No problem, if I run out of gas, I know who to come to."  He laughs, waves, "yeah" and drives off.   Sometimes God uses the unexpected to do amazing things.  Sometimes he uses the unexpected to change us.  This time it was both.

 Have you ever been changed when God asked you to do something unexpected?