What happened just a few hours ago is unlike anything I have
seen in 35 years of ministry.
Thursday morning, a man was found brutally murdered in a
neighborhood park. He was a young man of just 27 short years. His brief life
was somewhat checkered, but he was dearly loved by his family and friends. He
was the life of the party, a real jokester, always offered a smile and was a
real hugger. This was Jarvis.
But late Wednesday night or Thursday morning he entered
eternity from a dark and shadowy little baseball diamond in Peter Pan Park, in the
midst of a rough neighborhood.
I received a call late Thursday evening from his cousin, a
lady I had the joy of leading to the Lord many years ago. She and I met in a
hospital corridor. She was crying her eyes out as I passed her on the way to
the elevator. The voice of the Holy Spirit prompted me to return from the
elevator and I asked her if we could pray for her. Her mother lay dying in ICU.
Later, in her apartment, this young single mom trusted Jesus as her personal
Savior.
She attended our church off and on for several years. We
watched her kids grow up and move on in life. Now, she was calling on me as her
pastor again to be there for her and her family. Jarvis, the young man whose
life was snuffed out, was her cousin. She asked if we could meet with them at
the scene of the crime and have a prayer with the family. It was the least I
could do. I felt as if we might offer some comfort and hope to this grieving
group of people who had just suffered the sudden and tragic loss of a loved
one. I guessed we would be ministering to about 18 people.
My wife and I drove close to the park and began to realize,
there was nowhere to park the car. The parking lot was full, there were no spots
to park on the streets for blocks around, cars were trolling for a spot. So we
parked in the next neighborhood over and walked to the unlit park.
The only lights were vigil candles held by several of the
attendees. The temp was hovering around 32 degrees. The crowd numbered between
250 and 300. Milling around the crowd, I could see that there were quite a few
gang bangers. A majority of the group were American Indian, Omaha and Sioux, several
African-Americans, a couple of people I took as local news people and a
smattering of others.
They had made a circle around the crime scene, basically
between pitcher’s mound and home plate of a baseball diamond. The same diamond
I had played on dozens of times when I was 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old in
Little Chiefs Baseball. I wish I could count how many times I had struck out on
this very spot.
There was nothing organized, just people intermittently placing
memorial items behind home plate and near the backstop. But there was this
empty spot in the middle of the circle a few feet in front of home plate and I
decided that would be the pulpit. These people were looking for something and I
supposed that God was what they needed more than anything.
So, I cleared my throat, introduced myself as a pastor and a
chaplain for the police and fire departments, and that I was there to try to
offer them some comfort from the Lord. I thanked them for their outpouring of
love for Jarvis and his family.
I led them in the first verse of Amazing Grace. Some of the
folks started praising Jesus and I knew there would be some spiritual support
for what we were trying to do. Before singing the next verse, we mentioned how
special it was because it spoke of eternity. As we sang, “When we’ve been there
ten thousand years…” folks with some “churchin’” realized this was about to
turn into something special, and they began to really “get their praise on.” A
prayer was offered up for comfort, grace, strength, understanding, justice,
love and forgiveness. Several hearty “Amens” accompanied the prayer.
And then, the Spirit of the Lord came upon this preacher, in
a very inexplicable way, to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seldom
have I felt the liberty and power that God gave on this special occasion. There
were no interruptions, nobody stirring, all eyes, as far as I could tell in
that darkness punctuated by candlelight, were on the preacher. Tattooed
gangsters were nodding their heads, women with children on their hips were
weeping, children were wide-eyed with interest. If only Sunday morning
Christians could be so enthralled with God’s message! But, death can do that.
Sudden death is a real attention getter. Murder… well, God was speaking to them
and they were tuned in.
The message was about the reality of eternity, the certainty
of death for all of us, the uncertainty of life, the value of living for Christ
and the need of Christ as Savior if a person is ever going to have hope for
eternity.
With every head bowed, the crowd expressed their desire to
trust Christ as Savior and a prayer was offered that the crowd heartily
repeated, a prayer of sorrow for sins, the belief in the death burial and resurrection
of Christ and opening the heart and life and inviting Jesus to be Savior and
Lord.
At the close of the prayer, we reminded them that if we were
ashamed of Jesus, He would be ashamed of us before His Father. With this in
mind, I asked all who prayed to make Jesus Lord and Savior to publicly lift
their hands high so all could witness their trust in Jesus. Every hand shot up,
I mean, as if they were trying to touch heaven, and stayed up. Shouts began to
ring out. People were praising Jesus, others giving thanks for Jarvis, the boy
who lost his life, so that they could hear how to receive eternal life.
I noticed a couple of ladies were there who were girls that
lived across the street from me when we were in junior high. Wow! That was 42
years ago. I sure hope they got saved too!
Jarvis gave his life not knowing that it would mean hundreds
receiving everlasting life. I hope somehow he knows this.
Me, I struck out once again on that little old diamond of my
childhood, only this time, I was striking out in an attempt for something
unimaginable for Christ. Thank God for an opportunity that started in a
hospital hallway several years ago. I trust the recording angel was burning up
some pens writing new names down in glory tonight.
