The
news reporters still haven’t gotten all the events of the last 4
weeks sorted out. What has come to light though, certainly has
created quite a stir. It all centers around an old building that was
purchased by the church next door mostly just for the expansion
potential. You know, extra parking for busses etc. For now, let’s
just call the old building, “Jericho”.
The
names haven’t been nailed down yet, but about 4 wks ago close to a
dozen teens showed up at Jericho and started pulling weeds and
picking up glass and trash. It seemed at first to be strictly low
key. During the next few days that had sunny weather, the teens were
seen arriving on their bikes after school. They continued the same
cleanup process.
It
wasn’t long before extra teens on their bikes were seen ‘reporting
for duty’. Maybe that’s when things started looking a bit
strange. The kids were all pretty happy working around Jericho. It
kind-of put you in mind of the people that rebuilt the wall around a
Bible city… it said they had a mind to work.
Saturday
started out to be just like the other work days until a couple
silver-haired folks showed up with their lawn chairs. They positioned
them back far enough to not get ‘caught up’ in all the work. One
of the teen boys showed up pulling his gas lawnmower behind his bike.
When his bike hit some loose gravel you wanted to hide your eyes, but
God blessed with safety; that’s the business
He’s in.
But
then…
But
then Granny Simms pulled her old Hudson into the parking lot and got
out. The silver-haired spectators kept their eyes riveted on Granny
to see what would happen next.
You
need to know that Granny in her prime was the leader of a team of
women riveters on war ships. If Granny thought you were a slacker,
she’d flip you a hot rivet – at least that’s what all her team
thought.
No
one ever had to invite Granny Simms to be the boss of a project. She
invited herself. And heaven help the person that said NO to her.
She’d turn those bullet steel colored eyes on you and make you
shake like your nose was stuck in the wrong end of a cannon.
Well,
without saying a word or making any gesture Granny slowly walked
around the whole Jericho project. Then with enthusiasm she got back
in her old Hudson and drove away almost spinning in that pesky
gravel. The spectators still had the uneasy feeling they hadn’t
seen the last of Granny that day. The hair on the back of your neck
would bristle up not knowing if Granny the riveter would be coming
back with the police or potato chips.
Their
fears were answered about 45 minutes later when they saw that old
bright yellow-green Hudson with the busted headlight coming over the
hill. Some folks kidded that the headlight was smashed against a
pedestrian stupid enough to get in the way of a rivet team leader on
a mission. But that’s just hear-say and nothing ever showed up in
the newspaper police reports.
The
dust in the parking lot hadn’t begun to settle when Granny Simms
got out and started setting the 3 gallon jugs of lemonaid on the
large box that was sitting in the front of the Jericho site. Another
trip to the car brought back a big sack of ice and a bag of plastic
cups. She took a large stone and banged it against the bumper of the
old Hudson to get the attention of the teens. She then pointed at the
cool lemonaid and made sure all the teens obeyed. As hot as that
Saturday was, the hardworking kids didn’t want to miss out on the
cool drink or dodge a flying rivet.
What
happened next should have been made a photograph and should’ve been
front page. Granny went back to the car and pulled out a lawn chair
and set it up somewhat between the road and the teenage workers. But
she really surprised everyone by facing the chair away from the
project and toward the road. One more trip to the car and back she
came with four pairs of work gloves and laid them down beside her
lawn chair. She sat down in that chair with the watchful
determination of a jumbo-size bear trap.
She
made sure if anyone was going to show up and voice some criticism
against the teens cleaning up Jericho she was going to slap a pair of
gloves on ‘em and they’d be working before they took their second
breath. My my could Nehemiah ever have made good use of Granny Simms
when they were rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem.
One
of the pictures that did appear in the paper showed everyone working
hard with Granny at her post. Most of the spectator chairs were empty
because the seniors were pitching in. You had to look at the photo
real close to see something very special. Almost chopped off the
picture by the editor you could see a tough looking teen in something
of a leather motorcycle jacket on his knees toward the back of the
building. He was poking his trigger finger in the ground as directed
by an old gentleman in a beat-up straw hat and old bib overalls. From
a distance you could only guess they were planting seeds. Do you
suppose they were planting apple seeds or seeds of promise?
The
next work day at Jericho the teens brought wash rags and paint
scrapers that all got a lot of use that day. The youth had been so diligent for so many days that Mr. Jenkins, the grounds-keeper at the
church next door, came over just before the youth left on their bikes
for supper one day. He told them he’d be glad to unlock the tractor
building each day they were working if they’d just ask.
Two
of the church trustees and a deacon called the pastor to find out who
had voted to begin working on the old building that had once been a
dealership for farm tractors. This all seemed to be a surprising
answer to prayer in seeing all the youth working hard and even the
silver-haired forgotten generation chiming in too. I think if anyone
found fault with it, Pastor would sic Granny onto them.
Because
the roof on the back half of the building leaked, the teens stacked
boxes and some boards across the entryway back to that area. This was
to be a strictly up-front project.
Two
of the facts the newspaper reporters never learned was when the
marching began or it it was done every day the youth were there
working. The youth would walk slowly single file around the building
carefully dragging a hand against the wall all the way around. The
reporters did learn they made the complete round trip at least 3
times during each march. One of the reporters considered himself
fortunate to have snapped a shot of all the teens in a semicircle in
close to the entrance door. Their mission must have something to do
with that door and what’s inside, what could be inside someday.
The
receptionist at the newspaper was ready to walk off the job because
she couldn’t handle all the questioning calls about the front page
article the editor titled, “JUNIOR JERICHO”. It wasn’t hard to
imagine the determined teens were marching around their Jericho;
their building they were to conquer for reaching youth in the name of
the loving Jesus Christ.
But
the question so many were asking without resolve was, “What makes
these youth so determined in conquering this jr. Jericho… this old
mostly worthless building? Why are they working so hard?
The
answer appeared on the inside of one of the large plate glass
windows. One of the youth had used some kind of window cleaner and
wrote in monster sized letters for all the drivebys to see, “JUNIOR
JERICHO”.
But
the actual answer was printed on a regular sized piece of paper taped
on the inside of the window as well. It had a picture of a nail at
the top of the page that might have suggested the nail that Martin
Luther drove his famous declaration that started the Reformation.
Under the nail image the words declared the youth’s crusade to
reach their fellow students and friends because time is fast running
out. The other stated surprise was that they were going to use
junk…computer junk, actually.
The
youth had had enough. They wanted to show the church that the Gospel
of Salvation could be far more effective with a computer flavoring.
Since the computer stuff was just junk, the silver-haired generation
loved the idea.
Tell
me, is it all that difficult to begin a quest for souls by doing
little more than sticking a finger in the ground or making some
lemon aid? Your Jericho may be a city, or a building, a neighborhood,
or even just a family that’s crying out for hope.
