Tragedy and compassion.

            I am so excited.  This weekend is the final camping weekend of the year and I get to spend it with my church family.  Should be a great time.  We still have a lot to do to get the camper packed and I still have shopping to do, but We are so close.
            Now it is time to get serious.  For a couple of weeks I have been keeping a secret my sister asked me to keep (Sis, if you read this and I am wrong on anything, please let me know and keep the updates coming).  I kept it off of the Internet, for reasons I will detail below, but shared it verbally with my church and friends here.  My younger sister and her family is going through a really rough time.  They live in an area that has a high gang population.  My brother in law is the pastor of a church in the middle of this area.  The gangs there have decided they don't like the fact that he is offering alternatives to gang life and have decided that he needs to leave.  He is of a different mind.  What began with midnight calls and knocking on the door and running, escalated to texts with direct threats against their sons.  They went to the police and were told that the mayor didn't want the police to address the gang issue as it would draw attention to it and thus hurt tourism.  Due to the threats and inactivity of the local police, my sister was forced to leave her home with her children while things, hopefully, cooled down.  This left my brother in law alone with his ministry.  To make it worse, after my sister left, the house and church were both tagged with gang graffiti.  Then my brother in law had a log thrown at him from a moving car.  The log struck him in the jaw, knocking loose some teeth.  While he was lucky his jaw wasn't broken, he now needs a root canal that he can't afford due to various reasons.  As before, the police are still silent on this. 
         Now for the reason I kept this silent until now.  When my sister went to the police the first time, they saw an increase in the threatening activity, including pictures of her boys sent to her via text with threats accompanying them.  For this reason, she wanted the story and her location kept off the Internet as she was afraid of reprisal.  These gangs have not relented and my sister and her family are at the end of their ropes.  The reason I chose to write this today is because, she finally felt comfortable enough to share it via Face Book yesterday.   They need whatever support you can give them and I send them my prayers daily.
        I need to add that I have the deepest respect and love for my sister and brother in law.  Through out this the thought of giving up on their mission and leaving the church for their own safety has been the last thing they want.  If not for their boys, I believe the both of them would still be out there and spreading God's love.  If there is any Christian you should look up to, my sister and her husband are two of the best.  Sis, I love you and wish I could be there for you.  Thank you and have a wonderful weekend.