I live in Ambler Pennsylvannia a suburb of Philadelphia. In the midst of our little town is a sprawling Mansion with acres and acres of ground. There are gates to keep the towns-people out, and to keep the residents in. The main house is an actual castle, filled with precious antiques. The walls are lined with intricate carvings and there are stained glassed windows bursting with color at every turn. It is absolutely beautiful!

You would think that the people that live there were wealthy, or royalty, or famous...but they are not...The residents who live there are at risk youth from the city who have been pulled from their homes by DHS and placed there at St. Mary's Villa. The Villa was purchased by the Catholic Church and turned into an orphanage many years ago, and now it is a residential unit for children in distress.

"That sounds wonderful", you are probably thinking, but it is not. What it is, is a problem. Because these kids have been pulled from abusive situations of all kinds and placed far away from everything that they know, and within 48 hours, placed in the local school system with wealthy suburban kids...all kinds of trouble has been happening.

There have been many disturbances and misunderstandings and it breaks my heart. A friend of mine and I started praying for these kids and God has turned our hearts over to them. My community group (a small group from my church which trys to help our communities and address existing needs with the love of Christ) is starting to do ministry there. I know that God has big plans and am so excited to see what they are.

Recently I heard two stories from each end of the spectrum on this situation. One neighbor told me a story of four girls from St. Mary's who were being rude and abusive in a local drugstore. The neighbor was so troubled that he told the young girls that he was calling the police. Instead, he went to St. Mary's (where he must have thought that they were from because of their behavior...can you say: "PREJUDICE"?) and demanded to see the person in charge. From his own recolection, he said that he got out of his car with his phone in his hand yelling that he was calling 911 and next the newspaper...When I heard the story my heart fell...He continued to recount how all of these kids were "thugs" and should "go back to Philly where they came from" and how we were paying taxes while "they get to go to our brand new high school for free"... I tried to explain to him that they didn't want to be here and that they didn't want to go to our highschool. I told him that DHS placed them here and that they only have 48 hours to get settled before being thrown into a foreign environment. I told him that most of them are victims and that anger comes from hurt.

The other story is from a freind of mine's mother. She had a bunch of flowers in her car from a mother's day service at her church that she was planning to take downtown to a ministry for women where she volunteers most of her time. She was in the same drugstore as my neighbor and encountered some young girls who were being rude and destructive. She left the store annoyed at their behavior and went on her way to her daughter's house. As she drove she heard God say, "Give the flowers to those girls for me...tell them that I love them." She argued for some time with God...she had been upset by the girls behavior, but after a few minutes she felt the urgency of what God was telling her, and turned around and headed back towards the drugstore. As she was driving, she saw the girls on the road, right outside of the gate for St. Mary's Villa. She pulled her car over and reached in the back seat for the flowers and got out of the car. As she approached the girls she could see that they had their defenses up but she kept on walking. "What do you want" the obvious ringleader said with a loud voice. "Well", the woman stammered, "I have these flowers for you. God said that I should give them to you and tell you that He loves you". As she handed the flowers over to the girls, she said that she could visibly see their defenses drop and watched as the anger melted from their faces and as their tightly clenched jaws slackened. "What else did God say about us?" the tiniest girl asked. "Yeah, what else did he say?" they eagerly questioned her. "Can I have a flower?" said a girl standing in the back of the group..."Yes" they are for all of you, the mother said.

As she drove away she was amazed at how God's love and gifting had broken down all of the other things that these girls had going on, and how receptive they were to God.

The difference between these two stories is stark. These may have even been the same girls. I feel that God was showing me something important here: it's all in your delivery...when you are dealing with broken people, you need to be bringing God and His love with you. 

None of us has any right to judge or condemn, but people do it every day. They make rash generalizations about others and place people into  stereotypes that are unfair to everyone.

After he was through with his story, I told my neighbor about my friend's mother and her story and as I spoke I watched his face soften, and his eyes tear...he had never thought of being kind to them...he had never thought that they were victimized and hurting people who had become hardened because of the world and become aggressors so as not to be hurt first.

As Christians we are supposed to do just what my friend's mother did, carry the gift of God's love to the broken and offer it with kindness, even in the face of poor behavior. God loves the person, he may not condone the behavior, but he loves each one of us greatly.

Thank goodness for Jesus, that I have been forgiven for my behavior (my sin) because of his great love for me...and now we are to go into all the world (especially our own neighborhoods) with that same forgiving love and share it.

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." - Matthew 18:21-22