There's Good in the World

Many of you are aware that my 17 year-old son was attacked, beaten, and robbed this past week. It was a random act of violence on a busy street in broad daylight, perpetrated by a troubled young man. Chris was taken to the emergency room, where I met him, and we were soon joined by Pam. The CT scan showed no major damage, so with pain meds in hand we took him home.

This is the place where I could go two ways with this post. The easy thing, I suppose, would be to talk about evil, violence, and what kind of world we live in where this could happen to as kind and helpful a person as Chris.

But what has really struck me about this event has been the good in people, not the evil.

A woman driving by saw what happened and stopped. She checked on Chris, called 911, and interviewed the boy who had been with the attacker just before he crossed the road to attack Chris. She stayed until Chris was taken off in the ambulance. I don't know if she knows the story of the Good Samaritan, but she is a Good Samaritan. There were other drivers who also stopped to see if they could be of assistance.

Shortly after I got to the hospital Rev. Jason Jordan and Andy Smith came into the room. Jason is our Pastor to Students and Andy our Middle High Youth Director. What a blessing they were as we hugged and they prayed for Chris.

And what a blessing our community of faith has been. Members of our youth group and college group have beaten a path to our door. There has been a steady stream of calls, emails, and text messages telling us of prayers being lifted on our behalf.

Crises define us. We rise to the challenge or we fall short; they bring out the best or the worst in us. Many of the folks in our lives have shown us that they are people of courage, care, and love in this crisis. And for that, we thank you.