A new experience
2006-08-19Tonight, I had a new experience.
I drove past a gun battle.
This is not the De Profundis blog. I’m not making this up.
Crystal and I were driving to the Cub Foods at Nebraska and Knoxville. My normal route there from our new home is to go down Columbia Terrace to North Street, and then take North up to Nebraska.
So, Crystal and I were driving, discussing the latest graffiti that appeared in our alley, including the gun picture and the “Dead Zone” scrawl. Suddenly, I heard gunshots. I distinctly remember thinking, “Those aren’t fireworks”. I couldn’t see what was going on, and I wasn’t sure where the shots were coming from. So I hit the gas and got out of there as fast as I could.
Crystal saw what happened, though. She says that, right as we were passing, a man stood in the doorway of his house and fired four times at another man, who was on the lawn in front of the house. The second man returned fire before ducking around the corner of the house. If the first man had fired again, he could have hit us. As it was, she saw the muzzle flash from his gun as he fired.
We’re okay. Let me quickly assure you of that, and we are thankful to God for His protection for us. Still, it is a deeply disturbing and sobering experience that is sitting on both of us.
You see, this shoot-out happened only a couple of blocks away from our house. I could walk to the corner of my street (which is only three doors down) and see where it happened. Now, that is in a different neighborhood (Flora-Ellis/Orchard District/whatever they’re calling it), which is markedly worse than ours. Still, that is what we are facing here.
Now, I know that’s part of what we came to fight. But how do we fight it? What does that look like? Certainly, we need to be preaching the Gospel to everyone, and that includes gang members. And how do I fulfill my obligation to guard my family as we pursue this calling?
Hard questions, and the answers are very important.