I have many vivid memories from my childhood that do not reflect current reality.  Growing up on the outskirts of the Kansas City Metro (KC) yet consistently interacting with the each part of the city I was given a very unique perspective and love for the whole city.  Just like any other metro area, things change, some parts get better and vice versa.  One of these areas in KC is called “Bannister”  which is named after the road that the area is centered on.  While growing up I have so many great memories from this area.  After church my parents would take us down the Bannister mall to the SUPER WALMART to shop.  I remember seeing the traveling Lego collection (specifically the Lego Statue of Liberty, life changing), filling up on all the samples (don’t judge you’ve done it), and generally having a good time.  I also remember the night we were watching the news that there had been a “shoot-out” in the parking lot of the Mall and from that point everything started to go downhill, quickly.

Sunday afternoon my mother and I were trying to find a place on the Southeast side of the city to meet so she could see the kids and I could give her the camera we borrowed from my parents.  I pulled off of I-435 and merged onto Bannister Rd, an area I have been to thousands of times.  I noticed a gold Mercedes  (E-class) coupe flying towards me in the inside lane, so I continued on.  A few seconds later this car is next to me and the driver is livid, apparently he felt that I had cut him off (intentionally) and decided that he needed to scream this at me while we drove.  I sped up to try to get away (Sienna vs. MB E-class) and he easily kept pace with me so he could keep up his obscenity laced tirade.  This is the point I looked over and noticed a pistol laying on his passenger seat as he points to it and then back at me.  At this point my inner “Bryan Mills” comes out and quickly begin planning how to safeguard my family if he began to shoot (this is what happens when you grow up with a father who should have been in the CIA).  My wife, noticing that something is wrong,  asks what is going on, to which I lie to her and say nothing at all is wrong (I repent).  Eventually, I [skillfully] found a way to lose him and found a place to meet my mom.

What was the point of this story?  Well I want to tell you this for a couple reasons.

1. I am part ninja…
2. Ares of a city are just a microcosm of our nation which relish in prosperity, ebb, and then die.
3. There are broken places everywhere and we were almost another stat for no apparent reason

In this [overly] political season we need to remember that it is our privilege to make the invisible kingdom [of God], visible through our [redeeming] fidelity to it.  So how do we begin to encounter these broken people for the glory of God and the good of the city?  I’d love to hear your thoughts below.