Frank

Last week a young man by the name of Franklin was shot and killed in D.C. This young man went to Wilson High School. I didn't know him at all I didn’t even recognize his face. But when I came to AVID tutoring the day after, I notice right away that one of our students was upset. When the teacher asked her if she was ok she quickly blurted out that she knew the young man that was killed and that it happened on her street. She heard the shots, saw the sirens, saw his body get put into the ambulance, and got the news later that night that he was dead. I got to hear this story from her and hear all about her friendship with Frank in AVID class. It grieved my soul to see her pain and sorrow. Not only was I sad for her but I was sad for our community as a whole. Sad that kids had to witness firsthand the epidemic of violence. It’s an epidemic that stretches so wide in the U.S. It stretches to my home town in Richmond California where one of my friends a year ago was murdered at the age of 21 leaving behind a 2 year old daughter. I wonder just as the kids wonder; will it ever end?
However, in a world that seems rotten, it is that we know the one who preserves it. And know that God has called us to be salt and light in this world. It is an honor to pursue kids like Lauren who have been bruised by the tragedies of this world, and an honor to hope and believe that her world can be changed through Christ. This is why we do young life so that kids can be saved not just from hell, but saved from the hell they go through here on earth. And although we cannot fix their problems we can introduce them to someone who can. I didn’t get a chance to reach Frank but I pray that I can reach Lauren, and that we in Young Life D.C. can change communities one kid at a time.