It may as well be Beirut.

I have to come to terms with this. Emma living and loving the people in Uptown Chicago is a dangerous thing.
She hears gun shots regularly. Lots of them.

She may get shot.

I don't want her to get shot.

I don't know if the enthusiastic, leaders of this movement...into the cities.... are talking with these young families and women
about the dangers and possibility of getting shot. Perhaps they do...but I don't get to hear about it.

Living with the poor is one thing.
Living in a war zone is another.


Emma and Sher are planning on making friends with the people in Uptown. And they actually already are making friends.
I am not afraid of the poor in uptown. Emma is kind of one of those herself. I am afraid of the punks with the guns.



Katie and I are going to Uptown tomorrow to bring bikes and dishes and to go to a Cubs game.
We will NOT be going out at night. No way Jose.

Hopefully our girls will be street smart.
I know God will watch over them. But that is not a guarantee. Nope. Not a guarantee.
Some things are just more dangerous than other things.
Personally, I try to stay away from those things.

ramble.ramble.ramble.






For Our Children

Father, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them.

From the worldling's hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Holy Father, save our children.

Through life's troubled waters steer them,
Through life's bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father, be Thou near them.
Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.

-Amy Carmichael, from "For Our Children."


(I put this poem on my blog in January 2004. Seven years later, I continue to pray it.)



****

I am so proud of Emma. She has a very beautiful heart and spirit.

I just think it would hurt real bad to get shot.

Do I want to know the odds???


Through life's troubled waters steer them.
Amen.