I went into the office to close down my computer. Raised voices bled in through my open window. I ignored them for a bit, but a tug of heart wouldn’t let me be. Putting on an old shirt, I went to poke my sleeping husband. It seemed reasonable to have him know where I’d be if I didn’t come to bed in a couple hours.
I met them at the curb. Five kids of random ages. Each of them seemed to come from various disappointments of life. When I entered their circle they looked at me for what I was to them, out of place. Within a few minutes, I had a download for a language I had never spoke before, but my heart did. It was their street lingo.
I learned they had rage for a girl who was dating a guy none of them liked. It was some twisted matter of honor. As I stood in their circle, they seemed to tolerate me being there, even humoring me to explain their code of honor. I listened as best I could about some intolerance for this girl who shouldn’t get to sit in the guy’s car. None of them seemed to know why beyond the reason of it being a dishonor in their own mind.
I could not have been more out of my element but still, I was standing on this curb with these “cool” ones. I stopped thinking about who I was, and concentrated on who I heard them to be. I asked them over and again about their own names. I didn’t fully understand why this was important but I obeyed my heart to keep talking to them about their names.
Within a matter of minutes something changed in them. The rage seemed to fall away and laughter came. One of the girls said, “I get what you’re saying, we are important so why should we let her bother us so much!”
From that point on the kids thanked me for coming to just hang with them and being cool about it. The hour was close to midnight and I wondered about their parents even knowing they were playing in the streets this late, but I kept the question to myself. Leaving them I went back into my home. They were precious to my heavenly Father. I thanked Him for the privilege to again pull me out of my comfort zone. I prayed for them and for their futures and thought again about their number….five….grace.