June Prayer Letter

June 1, 2013

Dear Friends,

Imagine this situation. You’re running late to pick up the teen that you are mentoring. Before you leave, a few kids come by needing their bike tires pumped up. While you are helping them, a group of kids walk by the house just about to get into a fight. You take the time to talk to the kids about to fight. They talk relatively calmly and you are able to send them on their way and go back to helping the kids with their tires. Once they are on their way, you are about to leave again when you hear the crash of smashing glass. You look over to see that one of the kids you just helped threw a bottle into the parking lot behind your house.

How would you respond? Your first thought may be to yell at the kid and send him home, but then you stop and realize anger will not solve anything. You then decide that you will calmly go in the house, get the broom and head back out. The broom is handed to the kid who threw the bottle and you walk together to where the bottle hit and sweep up the mess. Once that’s done, the kid rides off on his bike and you walk back to your house, where there are a few kids waiting for some animal crackers. Finally, you are able to be on your way.

This was our evening tonight and all these events happened just as Tom was about to leave to meet with the teen boy that he is mentoring. Sometimes we go for a few days without anyone stopping by our house, and then all of a sudden we are hit with a plethora of things happening all at once. It can be easy to respond to these situations annoyed that your schedule was interrupted, or get frustrated that the kids in the neighborhood always seem to be getting into some sort of trouble. We are called to respond in love, to be Christ to these kids.

As we are entering the month of June, we will be seeing an increase in the number of kids stopping by. We look forward to these opportunities to share God’s love with these kids, but we also want to make sure that we keep healthy and clear boundaries with them so that we are always sharing Christ in our words and actions. Most of these kids do not have any idea who Jesus is, so every moment we share His grace is precious.

Please Pray:

1. For wisdom, patience, and love as we interact with the neighborhood kids this summer.
2. That we would maintain healthy boundaries with the kids.
3. That we would make every effort to get to know their families better.

In His Precious Name,

The Anthony’s