Inside the gates, behind the bars, and on the streets

I would like to take you on a journey during one of my recent weeks of working with the youth at Lyndhurst Baptist Church; God’s faithfulness can be seen even when I encounter circumstances that are WAY bigger than me. Some of you may recall my asking prayer for a group of guys that I referred to as GPG (God’s Potential Gang) who are heading down a dangerous road. Last month three of them were arrested for assault; they got into a fight with another guy in the neighborhood. After spending a night in jail, they were released and told to appear in court in a week; that night after they were released Tshepi and I went to talk with each of the guys. We didn’t really know if they were listening or not since they were very tired from standing the night before crammed in a jail cell and were still processing everything that had happened. After talking to them and listening to the emotions they were experiencing (or lack thereof), we went to drop the guys off at home since it was getting late. (Let me stop here and explain something. In Johannesburg, it is very difficult to get inside people’s homes because of the physical gates everyone puts up due to the high crime in the area and also the emotional guard people build around themselves. Hence, we never actually know what is going on in the home lives of the youth except for what they are willing to share. We (Tshepi and I) are very close to the youth, but we had yet to be invited into homes by the parents themselves; this is a very difficult obstacle to overcome. We had been praying for an opportunity to begin building relationships with two of the mothers of the guys in GPG specifically by name…we just didn’t know it was going to take a court date for this to happen).

We pulled up to the gate to drop off one of the guys, and the mother came outside of the house, outside of the gate and asked Tshepi and I if she could see us the next night to talk!! Wow, ok God…. This mother of two with a nice house, a car, and a job wants to talk to two twenty something year old girls? We prayed the whole next day that God would use us however He wanted that night. It was one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever had. We walked behind the gates into a very nice two story home, drank tea, and listened to this mother pour her heart out for the next three hours! She told us how she got in her car to take her life the week before because she felt there was no hope. She wants to see them grow up, get married and have families, but with them continuing down this path she doesn’t believe it will happen. She cried and cried while her two sons, Tshepi and I listened to her pour her heart out in the middle of the living room. We didn’t have magic answers to make all the problems go away or a way to erase another court case that had been opened against her sons and the guys that we love very much, but we listened. She is not a believer; therefore, she does not understand the peace in the midst of the storm that we can have because of Him. At the end of the night, we prayed with her; she was very grateful. Tshepi and I got into the car amazed at how God was using a court case to answer our prayers to get into this home….not how we had exactly pictured it.

God was not finished wowing us! We arrived at court at 8 30am and sat with the guys and their mothers until 4pm; we were literally the last ones to leave the court walking out with the social worker and the guards who were locking up, never appearing before the judge. However this time was not wasted! We sat in one hallway until noon and were then moved to another area which was right by the holding cells where they take youth who have been convicted and were going to prison. We watched as kids walked by about to be taken to prison to face the consequences of their actions. We saw 13 year old girls chained together who we learned had been convicted for selling their bodies; we learned of three 15 year olds who were arrested for selling marijuana; other crimes ranged from assault to housebreak ins to fraud. Our guys sat there for four hours watching young people who looked just like them being taken in because of their actions. I believe this was more of a wakeup call for them than any length of community service could have been. We never went into court because no one had ever carried the case to the judge to be reviewed; so as the judge was walking out to leave for the day he dropped the case after finally reading it (the father of the guy who they were fighting had beaten many of them across the face and back with his belt in the midst of the fight between these youth). As we were walking out of court, Tshepi and I were able to speak with the head of the youth Social Services Department; she was familiar with our faces since we had been sitting there all day. We introduced ourselves and tried to share our hearts with her; she wants to meet with us and take us around the jail, show us the youth rehabilitation programs, and discuss issues that they face each day. This opportunity would have never been available if we were not in court that day… God can and does use “bad” circumstances for His good. We are so excited to see how God opened this door for us; please pray for Tshepi and me as we meet with her next week to learn some of the stories of the young faces behind the bars; our prayer is that God will use us in whatever way He wants. As we were leaving the court house with the guys, one of their mothers said, “This isn’t going to be the end for us, right? We want this to be the beginning of a relationship with both of you girls.” WOW! They are reaching out; we have open invitations into each of their homes; we know it was GOD who used this situation to open the physical gates of homes and the emotional guards of hurting families who are crying out for an eternal hope. Please pray for Tshepi and me as we begin to minister to these mothers. Three days later two of the guys came to me and Tshepi separately expressing their realization that if they stayed with this group they would continue to make wrong choices and end up paying a high price for their actions. We prayed with each of them and encouraged them to stand up and to help each other back away from this lifestyle; please pray for these two guys who are the two who became Christians at camp the year before last and who stood up at this past camp and confessed vandalizing their neighborhood in front of the whole camp and asked for forgiveness. These two are battling and are trying each day to live a life that will include an abundant future; pray that they find boldness and strength in God, their Heavenly Father.