HOPE for security

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" ~Matthew 5:44

Hope, something you can’t see but a strong sense that something will happen. Sometimes it’s easy to loose hope and for us to think that things will never change and as someone that is helping with working with neighborhood leaders, it’s easy to see that they are holding onto hope for the future and what can be and should be. Part of what I do is attend various neighborhood association meetings as well as over the past few months, help with home visits in 9 neighborhood. So, how am I seeing “HOPE” play out?

When attending one of the neighborhood association meetings recently a lot that I heard before the meeting even started was how Maria and her husband Rafael house was just recently broken into and how it took them calling the police about 10 times and 7 hours before police finally showed up to investigate the break in. Those that had broken into the house took everything including Rafael’s weapons that he had in the house. The neighbor saw the suspicious activity and saw the people that broke into the house but felt unsafe calling the police due to fear of what would happen if those breaking in found out that they reported them.

After that, someone else spoke up and mentioned that her grand daughter had been stopped at gun point and had her purse and everything in it stolen from her even though it was still light outside. She has mentioned though that the person that took the purse tossed out the wallet that was in the bag and included her license, credit cards, id, etc into someone’s yard and that person was generous and kind enough to take the wallet and everything inside it back to the person that it belonged to. However, the car keys, house keys, and phone were still missing.

Both of the above instances occurred in the same neighborhood where they have had to deal with drug dealers, drug houses, crime, etc taking place yet the neighborhood leader identifies with each of the residents and feels like when someone’s house is broken into then her house was broken into, when someone was stopped at gun point, then she was stopped at gun point, etc. The leader is one that knows the streets of the neighborhood and doesn’t show fear but rather shows hope for what can and should be. Hope for a place where the residents don’t have to fear walking around the neighborhood, hope for residents being able to feel safe in their own homes, hope for a safe community for families to be brought up in. Even with knowing that someone now has weapons from the above house that I mentioned that was broken into, she is still determined to make her presence known in the neighborhood and make it where people know not to mess with her and the neighborhood since she truly has identified and owned the neighborhood and is leading the residents and the neighborhood in bringing in HOPE.

In all honesty, how many of us would still be able to walk the streets, make our presence known, etc even when we knew all that was taking place? But when we know that God is with us and that God wants His Kingdom to be here on Earth then we can have hope and keep moving forward in “hope” that one day we will be able to live in a community that is safe for everyone and is secure.

This isn’t only happening in one neighborhood but it’s happening in numerous neighborhoods that I help work in. In another neighborhood Eva ended up quitting her job because her house was broken into and she wanted to have a presence at the house all the time so that it wouldn’t be broken into again. Eva is involved with the neighborhood association and one day ended up telling us that she just hoped for a better community where residents of the neighborhood were able to enjoy life. She envisioned the neighborhood as being a place where families would feel safe, where neighbors would know each other, and where family owned businesses could start up and be made into something bigger. Even with being broken into more than once, Eva is still holding onto the hope to safety and a neighborhood that people are free to be themselves and not worry about if someone is going to break into their house, if their small business will be taken over by bigger businesses, where neighbors are helping each other out and connecting with one another, where there are resources, and where you can build up a family.

That’s hope, in each of these instances, the resident or leader doesn’t currently see or have the neighborhood that they have since a lot of what they see is the crime but they are still able to envision and hope for a better community and neighborhood. Hope, it’s something you can’t see but it’s something you have a strong desire to see happen and that greatly defines what the residents and leaders envision for the neighborhoods they live in. 

**Names mentioned above are not the real names of the people but still actual instances that have taken place and have been told**

Prayer request: pray for the neighborhoods, the leaders, and the residents that they may continue to have hope in what is currently unseen and for the safety and protection of them all