clinton street

out of our back window from the house i currently live in, there are approximately 6 burned out homes. 2 of them have roofs that have collapsed. the charred wreckage just sits and waits. there is not a grand emergency to rebuild-- the houses next to them are surviving; granted with only marginally better roofing than those that have collapsed. So there are no building crews on the block repairing what has happened. no one cares.

Philadelphia has been host to 271 murders so far this year. recently, i heard the names of those 271 victims who were under 21. over a hundred names read aloud. one of the ladies read the names of her best friend and fiancee, whom she had lost to gunfire this year. at the end of the list, one man said, "in the midst of this sorrow-- in the midst of all this violence and hatred-- there is a rock to stand on and there is a God who is greater than fear and hate and murder. Love wins, and there is hope."

How can we expect for kids in the neighborhood of camden to be hopeful when all that is heard are police and ambulence sirens. and all that is seen in the back yard are collapsed buildings and wreckage. is there hope in the midst of drug deals and prostitution in our back alley? is there hope in the fact that there are more people in the county jail in camden than there are in the actual city? is there hope the fact that more than 85% of kids grow up without a father?

these questions keep me up every night.

i was looking at the burned out buildings in our back yard yesterday and noticed something that i didn't see before. A huge vine with large foliage is growing from the rubble. Life is reborn from wreckage. There were sounds of kids playing in the street and the sun was shining.

In the midst of sorrow, in the midst of all this violence and hatred--There is a rock to stand on and there is a God who is greater than fear, hate, and murder. Love does win, and there is hope.

there has to be.