It was ten o’clock before I finally left to do our family’s grocery shopping last night. In general, we try to avoid evening trips to Ralph’s. There have been enough incidents there at night that it is better to just not take the risk. But we needed to shop and this would be my only… Continue reading Afraid
Category: South Central
When the good news doesn’t feel very good
I missed our block club meeting on Monday night, so when I saw Lauren the next day I asked her what had been discussed. She gave me the update on police activity over the past few weeks, and it turns out that they did finally catch the two guys who were raping and robbing women… Continue reading When the good news doesn’t feel very good
For theirs is the kingdom
Doug is in the midst of jury duty selection this week, so his schedule has allowed for him to be home in the mornings. Yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment and because he was home I went by myself while he stayed with the kids. When I returned, he had all three kids out front:… Continue reading For theirs is the kingdom
He reigns.
I remember it was Easter Sunday our first year living here when we experienced our first homicide on our street. I remember standing on our front porch watching while the area was taped off and and the LAPD worked the scene. I remember watching the coroner’s van arrive to take away the body of the… Continue reading He reigns.
Muffin theology
On Friday the phone rang and it was a friend up the street who was calling me from the hospital. She just lost her husband a few weeks ago, and her own health is a concern as well. She was at Good Sam being treated for Pneumonia, and she wanted us to know. This meant… Continue reading Muffin theology
Rite of passage, South Central style
One of the consistent things in our neighborhood is the very steady flow of ice-cream trucks up and down our street. In the six years that I have lived here, I have never bought ice-cream from any of them. Until yesterday I can’t remember the occasion, but I had told the kids last week that… Continue reading Rite of passage, South Central style
Billy’s Bucket
My sister was kind enough to take Mercy to the downtown library last week, and Mercy and Aaron are so excited to have new books in the house. Aaron is addicted to a Thomas the Tank Engine storybook collection (he finds the page with the Troublesome Trucks story every time and wants to read it),… Continue reading Billy’s Bucket
Dispatch
When talking with various people about our church, our conviction regarding being a “parish” church is often the greatest stumbling block for folks. Especially here in the land of car and commute, making claims on where one lives and how that relates to where one worships can seem offensive to many. This past week I… Continue reading Dispatch
The devil is in the ants
So my hopes for a spiritual start to the Lenten season have been derailed by a total ant onslaught inside our apartment this morning. Living in an old house, we have numerous cracks in our walls and ceiling, and there is one such crack (where we experienced terrible flooding a few weeks ago) through which… Continue reading The devil is in the ants
Why We Can’t Wait
Last night Doug was working on planning the worship service for today while I finished cleaning up the day’s play in the living room when suddenly our apartment was filled with the sound of a helicopter circling overhead. Our living room was shaking, we could hardly hear each other speak, and I went to the… Continue reading Why We Can’t Wait