Not Mr Rogers Neighborhood

When you think about where you grew up  you think about the house ,the backyard, and the nice quiet neighborhood you lived in . When my children get older they will think about where they grew up  and  will remember that a few homeless men slept on the couch in their living room and another man slept in their pawpaws truck in the side yard . When they think about the backyard they will remember how many lawnmowers were stolen out of it.When they think about their neighborhood they will remember their neighbors were drug dealers, crack addicts and alcoholics oh my! Some might say we live in the hood ,I just say we live on the North side and that in itself is pretty self-explanatory. I have been in New Orleans for the last few weeks and my first weekend back my mother comes for a visit.She doesn’t come up often and after today it will probably be awhile before she comes back.The following chain of events happened upon her arrival. We go to Wal-Mart than to Freds to look for a fruit bowl and some fake flowers to put on my porch .When we arrive home plans are made for my younger brother and his family to come and eat. My brother calls me to tell me he needs me to go to our friends house around the corner because our friend  just sent my brother’s wife a text saying he wanted to kill himself. My son and I go over there and he is not there. We head downtown towards the fountain where my son finds him unharmed and begins to talk to him . I see there ok so I head back to my house where my son’s girlfriend and another friend tell me the police are looking for him with an ambulance on stand by. My brother meets me at the house and my son and our friend pull up in the yard. My brother goes with our friend around the corner to his house . A few minutes later I meet them in front. Long story short, we ministered to our friend and he asked us to pray with him. We prayed for him and  the first time for my brother , we led our friend to Jesus. What made it even more special was sharing that moment with my brother and it was awesome. After ,we went home to watch the LSU game. Towards the end of the fourth quarter my brother and his family went home. While watching the last couple of minutes of the game Gators are up 29-26 and my son calls. He  proceeds to tell me that my neighbor next door has fallen down a flight of steps . Naturally, I watch that last 11 seconds of the game and manage to text my older brother something about Les Miles having a horseshoe up his butt as I’m walking out the door. I walk up the  steps to the upstairs apartment and find my son and his girlfriend tending to my neighbor whose face on the left side looks like  the size of a baseball. Now, she’s had a few drinks and  isn’t too much worried about her face as she is about the blood on her sofa as I’m watching my son spray the stains with Resolve. When the ambulance arrives they persuade her to go to the hospital and believe me she definitely needed to go. Meanwhile my poor mother is outside wondering what  the hell is going on and we go home. I tell her I’m going to walk Joanjett so Big Joan (as my nephews call her) and I head out for our walk. I start off around the corner and then the next corner trying to avoid drawing any attention to Joan from the plethora of dogs they have along the way. Ah but to no avail begins the very soooo annoying LOUD barking, which will alert the drug dealers sitting on the porch at the abandoned house on the next corner that I’m headed towards them. I round the corner and there they are . Three sitting on the porch and one sitting on the curb across the street. As always I say hello, they nod and stare at Big Joan and she stares back. I walk a little further down the street and the  cool night breeze blows the lovely aroma of marijuana coming from underneath the car port of the house on Madison and Olivier St. We continue on to Simcoe which usually has a lot of traffic.We turn to back track a little and I run into the homeless guy sleeping in my dads old truck in my side yard. I can tell he’s been hittin the Hooch and he tells me he’s been drinking and I tell him “Uh yeah dude I can smell it ,you had me at hello.” Recently he purchased a bicycle from some white guy for 10 bucks. There is way more to that then you need to know about so I’ll just leave that alone. He is scared to death of JoanJett and she ALWAYS barks at him . Did I tell you she is a great judge of character? Anyway I say “Be careful and goodnight” ,he says “Love y’all” and I say “Me Too bye” and we part ways. I head home because walking Joan is exhausting and she is wearing me out. Man when she gets a whiff of something she just pulls and pulls and by the time I go home I’m pooped. I get home and my mom is passed out on the couch. All and all it was a good day because in spite of everything that happened at least there where no gunshots. I don’t regret where I live in fact I’m grateful. I’m grateful because my children aren’t sheltered and they see first hand what life without God is like. They can relate to hurting people and they have compassion for those in need and are willing to help their neighbors. This is real life and God didn’t put us here to be comfortable and safe. God put us here to be affected by what we see and willing to be used to make a difference and trust Him.We DO NOT walk in a spirit of fear. I don’t walk around this neighborhood afraid of anything or anyone because I know who walks with me. This day has ended and I look forward to what tomorrow brings. By the way , how was your day?