I’ve always had Christmas Eves filled with nothing but joy. There has always been large tables of food, blasting christmas music, loud laughter and talking. My mom always set up beautiful trees throughout our home with big, sparkling ornaments and twinkling lights and as any child’s dream, there was always presents and filled stockings.
Growing up, I always looked forward to Christmas. It was- and still is- my favorite holiday. But this year, I spent it way different than I ever had or ever thought that I would for that matter.
The large tables of food was traded for a table filled with musical instruments. The blasting christmas music was traded for the incredible voices of my teammates, filling the area with a Christmas spirit that was probably never felt before in that area.
We stood in a large open field that was covered in trash and scrap metals and brokenness. There were SO many kids! They were the same kids we had at camp that week and they were thrilled every time they saw us. We played games for an hour and then invited them over to the little concert stage we had set up, so we could sing christmas carols with them and share how exciting it was that this was the day to celebrate the birth of our Savior. When we got them quiet, we told them to go get all their friends. We encouraged them to go and get their families and invite them to our very own christmas spectacular.
All of the kids darted off, and just a few parents came back with them.
My heart was aching.
Not just because the people of the community didn’t want to come to see us Americans sing christmas carols, but because this was these kids Christmas. I am so used to being surrounded by family on Christmas Eve, and these children couldn’t even get their parents to come outside for just 20 minutes and just spend time with them.
It just blew my mind, but we continued anyways to make it the best it could be.We handed out sheets of music with the lyrics on them so people could sing along and we sat amongst the kids, encouraging them to sing with us.
We made it through about 3 songs. It was going very well. Our band was doing an excellent job and the kids were enjoying it. It was hard not to smile watching my teammates up there doing their thing. You could feel the love radiating off them and through them,
But, we only had 3 songs.
The sound of gun shots rang out.
All the kids, and the few parents who had came took off. It suddenly became very loud and it looked like a scene of chaos. The kids and their parents were literally running away and into their houses. The men that were listening to our performance got up, and stood around in a circle with their faces toward the direction of the gun shots.
Another man came running up from the direction saying “Shooting! Shooting! They will come over here and shoot.”
Suddenly, it was a scene of slo- motion. Our team wasn’t moving, in fact- most of them hadn’t even recognized what was happening. And truthfully, if I hadn’t heard what that man had said, I wouldn’t have understood it either. I looked in the distance and saw a large group of people about 100 yards away, quickly dispersing. Our crowd had already pretty much dispersed and our band stopped playing.
While I knew this was an area of heavy gang activity and violence, I never knew I would be a first hand experience of how it common and usual it was.
The kids heard the noise of just a few gun shots and literally knew what to do. It didn’t even phase them that people were firing off guns a football field away, they just knew to get up and run. Don’t think about anything, or what you’re doing or who you’re with- you take care of yourself and just run.
I couldn’t understand how this was just SO normal. How young kids have to be raised to potentially save their life.
I think what bothered me the most was this was these children and these families Christmas. It was evident that the Christmas spirit doesn’t ever really fill this area and here we were, trying to help them feel it and see it, and it was ruined. It was also bothersome that these people causing the chaos didn’t even care who was there and who was in the area. To me, it was such a selfish act and it made me so upset.
But this was their normal.
A few people had stuck around, but it was decided it would just be best for us to call it quits and wrap up early. The atmosphere had shifted from something so happy to something so grim. Everyone, who wasn’t used to incidents like this, was pretty shaken up to say the least.
In my mind, I wasn’t thinking about anything besides the fact I was so freaked out that I just wanted to get out of the neighborhood. I wanted to go back to our house, where I knew I would be safe.
Thats not what we were called to do though.
Although there was most defineitly a sense of fear, we couldn’t let that hold us back. We couldn’t let that stop our mission and what we were here to do.
By no means was this my first choice. Like I said, I was beyond ready to leave. However, that would mean that we let the enemy win. That would mean he had gotten exactly what he wanted. He didn’t want us to stay, because us staying would mean we were bringing God’s peace and light into a dark situation. That’s too bad for him, because that is exactly what we did.
In my time being a Christian, there are plenty of times I have felt His peace and His presence. But this time, it was unlike any other time I had felt Him.
Standing in a circle and praying out loud and singing His praise out loud, my fear was suddenly turned away. Holding hands with my team in this terribly broken area and just feeling His presence and His goodness and His light flood the entire area just blew my mind. How can this area be so full of the enemy and so full of just NOTHING good become so tranquil and filled with love? He is a God who protects. With His arms wrapped around me, I knew we would be okay.
We prayed for the homes. We prayed for the people. We prayed for the situations we knew nothing about. We prayed that our mighty God would build this area up, even though it was a place that people didn’t think He was present in. We prayed that these people would feel His love. Seek Him. Trust his promises and let their fears be cast out.
Once something is brought out into the light, the enemy has not a single hold on it.
We haven’t been back to that area since, but I don’t doubt that The Lord is working there. I don’t doubt that He is moving and working in the hearts of these people. While we may not be able to see the fruit of the seeds planted, I know that that in His time they will blossom into something absolutely beautiful.
