2 Doors down

I've waited too long to write this blog, well maybe just avoiding it rather, but I guess it's time. Many of you may have heard that there was a murder that took place a couple weeks ago in Roanoke. Let me take you through the last couple of grueling weeks in our neighborhood and family.
The kids and I were leaving for church one Sunday morning and as we walked out of the house, all we saw were police cars, trucks and black suburbans on our block and in the drive 2 doors down. Hmmmm.... I quickly got the kids in the car and then walked down to ask the police if there was anything I needed to be concerned about for my family's safety. He then told me, "No, ma'am, it only involves this family. I can't give you any more information at this time."

We went ahead and went to church praying for this family along the way. Jenna's first question was "where is David?" You see, David is a 13 yr old boy who lives in that house and we had played with him several times this summer. I told her I didn't know, but I'm sure he was safe. She quickly said a specific prayer for his safety. All we knew about David is that he lived with his mom and had an older sister that stayed with them from time to time. David told us that his mom worked 2 jobs and we never saw her there, which meant that David was home alone most of the time. We had invited him to church, but he never came with us.

Long story short.....David, his sister and her boyfriend murdered their mom, left her dead in the hallway while stealing her car to head north. The kids were picked up (only by an act of God) in South Dakota for being out after curfew on that Saturday night/Sunday morning. You can read all the details on CBS.com if you're interested.

The part that disturbs me the most is that the whole week after the police found Susan's body, there was just a very heavy, dark cloud over the neighborhood. I can't explain it, but it just didn't feel right. Knowing the little bit that I do about the spiritual realm, I know this heaviness was the spiritual battle going on around us. Even the policeman who came down to talk to me about everything, said that when he entered the home there was just "evil" in the air. Wow!

Come to find out, the kids were living in a fantasy world through a series of books. One of the books is called "Dragons Blood." It scares me to think that more times than not, parents are not monitoring every aspect of their kids' lives. Most people will chalk these books up as fiction, yet these books become very real to their readers and allows the enemy one more entrance into their lives.

After being in Youth Ministry for 10+ years, it breaks my heart for David. He was a really nice kid, although I always sensed there was something wrong deep inside. I never would've dreamed it would end like this.

I've had a hard time explaining to my kids what happened. In fact, they don't know the whole story. They just know that someone killed Susan and the kids won't be coming back to this house. I've had to just leave it to the Lord and explain that there is a lot of evil in this world and we need to be on guard at all times. We are to be kind and loving to everyone (Ephesians 4:32) no matter their situation.

The Lord tells us in scripture: 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

The devil succeeded in devouring the household 2 doors down, but we will continue to resist him, standing firm in our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to share His love with everyone we meet!