Carnaval 2010

Comment

Comment by Christopher D. Edwards on February 23, 2010 at 7:20am

These are some thoughts on the event from tuesday night during the parade.


"Mommy, NO! I don't want to go out. I don't want to go down there. Mommy I don't want them to hurt us," cried 4 year old Amanda.



"Its ok. Come sit with me," I told her, as I tried comforting her in here moment of terror and uncertainty as a 4 year old child, caught in the middle of all the commotion surrounding us.



As Brent, Heather and I were standing outside the base, just 50 yards from the parade passing by, we looked up to see a wall of people screaming and running up the hill, with a look of fear on all of there faces. As they passed, we tried asking what was going on. Many were unsure. Others claimed that shots had been fired down the road from us. All of them were fearful for there lives, as they began piling in to the base, searching for a place of safety. The crowd was a mix of people that were watching the parade, YWAMers and the people from the floats of the parade.



The city is in a state of fear, as the drug war touches closer to home in recent months. There has been killings and threats and the people are scared. And when we are driven by fear, we will react to things in a much different way. The people will panic with just the thought of some one having a gun, as we seen last Tuesday night. But we can not allow fear take a hold of our city and determine what we will or will not do. But how do we conquer fear?



As held 4 year old Amanda in my arms, walking down the street with her and her family to a place were she felt more comfort, I didn't think "oh, I should share the gospel with her and here family!" But I just loved on her. I asked her questions about her pets, her age, anything to get her mind off the situation. I simply loved on her. And she went home in peace that night. While saying good bye to her and her family, I could see that this made an impact on them. And I pray that God will use this moment in there lives.



While walking back to the base, I was reminded of a part of the bible that says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18. And I knew that was one keys to seeing our city released from the fear that is holding many right now.



Please join us in prayer for our city. We will not be directed by fear. We will not back down, but we will continue to fight as we love the people of this city that we are each called to.