Of Drug Dealers, Molls, and Local Churches

After close to six years on the mission field, I have come to the conclusion that I must have missed several important classes while in Bible College. For example, this Sunday afternoon I realized I must have missed Comforting a Mother Whose Son Was Just Killed By A Drug Dealer 101.
The following is a surprisingly (and depressingly) common scenario here: Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Boy finds out girl used to date drug dealer. Boy ignores pleas from family and friends to dump girl. Boy gets call from girl to meet at a certain place. Boy shows up to find drug dealer waiting for him. Police find body of boy sprawled on the ground, full of holes. You would not believe the number of times I have read that story in the newspaper or seen it on television.
On Sunday afternoon I found my self talking to the mother of “boy”. She lives just a few yards from our congregation, and is the neighbor to one of our families. She recently started attending one of the “health and wealth” churches–and your son getting shot is not one of the things that is supposed to happen after you start attending there.
On the previous Saturday her son (in his early thirties) dropped by to help paint the interior of her house. By the next Saturday he was dead.
I missed the class on what you say in a situation like that. I have heard all kinds of cliches and slogans, but all of them seemed to fall flat as Pastor Francisco and I sat in her living room and watched her dissolve into tears while telling us the story. So we sat there and listened. Pastor Francisco read some passages from the Psalms, and then asked me to pray.
What do you pray for? I took a deep breath–made my own silent prayer for wisdom–and began.
After acknowledging God’s sovereignty, the first request out of my lips was justice. It was very obvious that this was what this grieving mother wanted, and I have read the Psalms enough to know that it’s okay to ask a just God to work justice.
Then I asked for God’s special comfort on this dear woman, and for His Name to be glorified in the midst of the tragedy.
After prayer, we asked if her family had any needs. She is not a member of our church, but she claims to be a child of Christ, and she is our neighbor. There were three ladies from our church with us, and all of them pledged their support to this family. I was very proud of our little congregation at this moment. This is the church being the church.
I have no idea if this lady, or any of her friends and family who were present, will ever darken the door of our church. But that isn’t the point. The point is that the disciples of Christ who congregate at the Kerigma congregation acted like lights in a very dark community.
And those to whom I minister ministered to me.
Every ministry presents challenges, and there is no way to be prepared for all of them. As I walked away from the house, I had a whole new appreciation for the truth that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness”, and that he has chosen “the foolish things to confound the wise.” Thankfully, my own feelings of inadequacy are not the final determining factor in the working of His will.