It’s a cold winter night, and the streets of Manhattan look bleak. We serve a meal at 6 pm and everything is already dark. I pass the restaurants in our area—all of them have constructed wooden overhangs so people can eat outside, so that the owners can make at least a little money and still employ a few people.
When I moved to New York City, where my husband took a job as a pastor and director of a church and community center in a rough area, I wondered about safety. I felt OK about myself, but I had two young children—an infant and a toddler. What about their safety? Would the “big city” be too busy for them to thrive and learn? Would our neighborhood (referred to as the “drug supermarket”) present dangers I had never thought of? I held tightly to the verse in John’s letter that “Perfect love casts out fear” (I John 4:18).
Giving courage to Christian believers who want to Meet the Need First.
