Breaking Up Fights

I went by the skate park to try to find someone with whom I spoke on Monday. (That is another story in itself, and hopefully I'll have some video up soon.) I was expecting a quick in-and-out. Go to the park, find the guy, talk to him, and take off. Instead, I found myself in the heat of conflict.

As I approached the alcove in the middle of the park, there was a group of five boys, all about 17 or 18, who were scoping me out. I knew that something was in the works in their minds, because I've had some training on detecting possible problems and being aware of my environment. So, it was only a matter of time before one of them spoke up.

"Hey!" said one, stepping up rather brazenly towards me. His friends retreated slightly to the benches to chuckle and watch what would happen next. "I've got some religious questions for you." I said that I welcome such questions. He crossed his arms, and began quizzing me, hoping to find a fault, something I could not answer. "You know how long the Bible has been in English, right? So what if the translators of it got something wrong a thousand years ago or so?"

"Well, first," I said, "You have to remember that a thousand years ago, English didn't exist. There was a proto-language called 'Englisc' that was its predecessor." This caught him off-guard. Then, I walked him through some of the points I made in this post, talking about how an omnipotent God who could speak the world into existence should not have problems with making people write down words properly for a few thousand years.

As we continued on with question after question, while his friends listened from a distance, I got to know Cody and I sensed an opportunity to start into presenting God's Law to him. As we walked through the Commandments, he sensed that he was in trouble in the eyes of God. Suddenly, he went from an adversarial type of conversation to more of a dialogue and polite chat. His questions became more geared towards clearing up misconceptions he had instead of finding flaws and trying to best me. When one of his friends came by and said, "Dude, how's it going? Is he winning?" he said that I was taking him to school instead.

By the end of our chat, Cody realized that his lack of trust/faith in God was something important, and that it would be his undoing should he died. I recommended that he get right with God before he dies, and he agreed. He wanted to know where I go to church, and I shared it with him.

Not seeing the person for whom I was looking, I started to leave the skate park when I saw a wave of kids progress in one direction. I recognized that sort of mass migration, and knew that it could only mean one thing--a fight was about to start.

Two boys were squaring off, chest to chest in the parking lot, talking smack to each other. I walked up and stood in between them. "That's enough," I said. They split up, but people continued to linger in the parking lot, expecting something to break out. I made a quick call to my friends at the police department, and about 10 minutes later, a K-9 officer came by. It's amazing how quickly kids disperse when the law shows up.

And it's amazing how quickly the Law can also break up fights.