No spirit of fear.

It was a normal day at work.. ya know... average. Started with a standoff with 40 police and swat team at our neighbors house... ended with a different neighbor chasing a man down the street with a huge pipe. Ha.
It's funny how the longer I am at the mission, the more normal gunshots and drug busts seem. As Ron, Luke, Paul and I stood on the corner this morning and watched all the chaos go down, Ron made an interesting comment. He said, "5 years ago I would have been in the basement hiding from all this out here... now I'm right in the middle of it". We laughed because each of us realized how crazy it was that we were out in the middle of a standoff just chatting it up with the police. All the other neighbors were locked inside their homes, scared to come out.
This afternoon I looked out the window just in time to see one of our neighbors sprinting down the street shaking a big metal pipe in the air. I off-handedly mentioned to Luke and Ron.. "Oh look...someone is getting into it", then we went on about our business. We just barely glanced up when a huge red firetruck went flying down the street in the direction of the pipe-wielding man. Later on the police came by and asked me a few questions. As I was chatting with the officer I said, "To tell you the truth, I didn't think much of it. Seems kinda normal to me."
I share all that not to say I'm tough, because I'm a huge weenie, but to say how good the Lord is. It says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 that, " God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." I believe that more with every passing day. He has called each of us at Cross & Crown to the front lines and we won't step back. Where is he calling you to the front lines?