this is a blog post from my good friend chris. It's about an experience me and him had this weekend..

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saturday night my good friend matt (virb.com/iamalive) and i were challenged by god in a way that we had never been challenged before, and he did it in the form of three african american young men named james, gman, and rock. here is the story,

saturday night around eleven, matt and i (and another friend of mine) had just finished watching a movie at penn square mall and we were standing in the parking lot when these three guys approached us. i will admit that i had a very judgemental first opinion and i thought we were about to get jumped so i braced myself, but instead they just shook our hands and asked if we had a cigarette. the six of us shared a smoke and got started talking, eventually they asked us for a ride, and eventually matt and i said yes. that 20 min car ride destroyed some of my comfort zones and allowed me to get to know some cool guys that i would have never given the time of day to. we found out that they were free style rappers and they were talented, they invited us to a club next weekend to hear them rap and they even said we could have vip status. we got to know some about their lives living in the type of neighborhoods that they live in and how they rap about their struggles. we talked about their dreams and aspirations and they told us about bobo's chicken, the best chicken in town. when we left one of them offered me one of the nicest compliments i think i have ever recieved (its slightly inappropriate but given the type of lives these kids live and where they grew up it was absolutely flattering) and then we dropped them off. they offered us gas money but we wouldnt take it, they had given us something priceless and we simply asked them to return our kindness to someone else in need someday, we asked them to show love.

god works in ways i will never understand, all i will ever know is how i am changed after. i will never forget that night and the social barriers that were ignored, all it took was a few cigarettes and some doors opened by god.

please keep love is an action in your prayers
we love you all

chris