The Snitch

What crowd are you hanging with?
You could be found guilty by association.

A loud noise woke me out of a sound sleep. It was around 1:30am. I lifted my head to listen, thinking that I would hear more noise. Hearing nothing, I drifted back to sleep. When I finally got up and left the house, I saw the cause of the noise in the middle of the night: the back window of my van had been punched out. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was: "Snitch."

Earlier in the week at our Youth Center, there was an incident that required me to act responsibly and call the police. A boy on a bike rode by as I stood on the curb talking to a cop in a patrol car. It didn't take long for him spread the word in "the hood." Later the next day, someone came into the gym screaming at me that I was a "Snitch!" It was easy to string the events together and know why my window had been punched out in the driveway of my home. Yeah, I felt violated, frustrated, hurt and intimidated. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.

A few of the guys were sitting in the Youth Center just clowning around. One guy was snoozing on a couch. Somebody thought it would be funny to harass him while he was sleeping. He woke up and got angry. This guy was a big teddy bear who would not harm anybody. He was a big guy and his mannerisms could be kind of intimidating to a smaller person. The antagonizer backed off and complained to another guy who stepped in to rescue the antagonizer. Angry words were exchanged and a threat was made. "Stay right there!" Screamed the guy who had stepped in as the supposed rescuer. He marched out of the Youth Center. The words: "Stay right there!" are verbal graffiti that convey the message: "I have a gun, or I'm going to get a gun." The message was clear that the big teddy bear guy was in trouble.

I was closing the Youth Center early that night as I had a doctors appointment. One of the requirements of working with young people is the ability to be intuitively aware of your surroundings at all times. Sensing the current emotional moods that will forecast the future emotional climate is imperative. Temperamental moods can erupt violently if they are not addressed immediately.  I listened and watched as I began to close the Center. I could see and hear danger signals. After ushering everyone up the stairs and locking the door, I turned and saw the angry guy who had yelled: "Stay right there!" The teddy bear guy had left and disappeared fearfully down the street. The angry guy was asking people if they knew where he was and they pointed down the street. He took off looking for him.

Everything I heard made me suspect that this could be a very volatile situation that could end up with someone hurt seriously or even wind up dead. I quickly made the decision to call the police. No one was hurt that day. I believe that I may have saved a life that day. The label of "Snitch" was placed on me for my efforts. Having my personal property violated at my own home was unnerving. I know of several murders that occurred after people testified regarding their knowledge of a crime. It's not easy to make the decision to call the police. It's easy to judge others. It can be downright scary to give information to the police if you think you or your family will be murdered. 

The only way I know how to have courage is through my faith in God. I know He's got my back.

It takes courage to go out on the edge of life.

Deuteronomy 31:6 New International Version

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

   

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:10-12.

Proverbs 24:10-12

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 25

¹⁰ If you falter in a time of trouble,
    how small is your strength!
¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death;
    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
¹² If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
    Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Proverbs 24:10-12

The Message (MSG)

Rescue the Perishing

24

¹⁰ If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
    there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

25

^11-12 Rescue the perishing;
    don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
    will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
    Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

Proverbs 24:10-12

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

¹¹ Deliver those who are drawn away to death, and those who totter to the slaughter, hold them back [from their doom].

¹² If you [profess ignorance and] say, Behold, we did not know this, does not He Who weighs and ponders the heart perceive and consider it? And He Who guards your life, does not He know it? And shall not He render to [you and] every man according to his works?

Proverbs 24:10-12

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
¹¹ If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
¹² If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

 Jesus told us to love God and love our neighbor. Turning a blind eye and having a deaf ear to a neighbor in trouble is cowardly. 

Leviticus 5:1 The Message

“If you sin by not stepping up and offering 

yourself as a witness to something 

you’ve heard or seen in cases of wrongdoing, 

you’ll be held responsible.

Heart-Storming Challenge 

• How do you get your courage muscle pumped?

• Can you encourage someone to tell the truth when they are threatened?

• What are you afraid of?

• How do you face your deepest fears? 

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.