another summer. another incident.

it always seems that violence happens most during the summer. statistics say that it's true, and so does my experience.

last summer, a man was shot and killed a block away from where i lived in albany park. we heard the shots. we heard the sirens. we were walking down the street.

last summer, a man was shot twice in the butt right across the street from the park on the south side that i brought my CSM groups to volunteer during the day. we saw it happen. we saw the guys run.

so this summer, i'm living in logan square, just north of humboldt park. this neighborhood is supposedly far safer than the other two i was in last summer. but, well.. it's not.

a few nights ago, one of the guys downstairs, a friend of mine, was talking on the phone on the front steps at around midnight when a couple of guys walk out of the alley. one walks right up the steps toward matt and pulls a gun on him.

wow... i don't even know what i would do except panic. which is pretty much what matt did. he gave up his wallet and cell phone, while sara, another girl downstairs heard the commotion and came to the front window. the guy points the gun at her through the window and threatens her too.

they end up running off and getting caught several hours later on the other side of the city. but matt and sara? wow. frazzled, to say the least.

i can't even imagine what that would be like. or how i would ever be able to truly process it.

i already have flashbacks to my 2006 car accident, but to a gun being pointed at my face?? ack. i don't even know.

so i'm asking for prayers for matt and sara. they're having a tough time working through it, and still keeping their minds on their jobs with YouthWorks.

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on a much lighter note, we finally got our first paychecks. God provides, sometimes after he teaches us a valuable lesson about giving up control. hm...