I woke up early this morning to attend our morning Liturgy of the Hours before Mass at my church. I walked outside to see this on my neighbor's garage:
On closer inspection, I saw this:
And this:
This wasn't only on one neighbor's garage but ALL DOWN THE ALLEY ON BOTH SIDES. For some unexplainable reason, they skipped our garage and one other neighbor's. Everyone else was tagged with similar markings. The police said that our alley was not the only one hit last night. So some group of teens, assuming they are teens, were very busy last night.
On a side note: I told my parish priest and one of the deacons of this incident and the deacon said "perhaps your house/garage is covered in the Blood of the Lamb and that's why they passed it over!" If that's the case, it's urging me to pray more for my neighbors!
Now, I have this big guy as our family pet and he didn't make a peep last night. So, they were quiet.
Many of the neighbors whose garages were graffiti-ted last night, have dogs and none of them gave any sign of alertness either to something happening in the alley.
It didn't happen to my garage but when I look out my kitchen window, I see this:
On closer inspection, I saw this:
And this:
This wasn't only on one neighbor's garage but ALL DOWN THE ALLEY ON BOTH SIDES. For some unexplainable reason, they skipped our garage and one other neighbor's. Everyone else was tagged with similar markings. The police said that our alley was not the only one hit last night. So some group of teens, assuming they are teens, were very busy last night.
On a side note: I told my parish priest and one of the deacons of this incident and the deacon said "perhaps your house/garage is covered in the Blood of the Lamb and that's why they passed it over!" If that's the case, it's urging me to pray more for my neighbors!
Now, I have this big guy as our family pet and he didn't make a peep last night. So, they were quiet.
Many of the neighbors whose garages were graffiti-ted last night, have dogs and none of them gave any sign of alertness either to something happening in the alley.
It didn't happen to my garage but when I look out my kitchen window, I see this:
Needless to say, I went to church unsettled and angry. Praying it's only "wanna be gang members" according to the police's assessment of what happened. But I was angry and scared. I don't understand this kind of vandalism. The perpetrators have no clue or care that it costs money, time and effort to clean this garbage off our garages. Arghhhh!
Today's reading spoke directly to me when the Lord told Moses:
"You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove him, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:11-18.
Ok Lord, I will stop fueling my frustrated and angry thoughts. I will let it go and hand it over to you. Please forgive my sin of hanging on to my anger. May You work good and blessings out of this nuisance. May You reach their hearts so they come to know they're wrong in vandalizing property. May they hear Your word and be convicted to change their ways.
Blessings,
Noreen
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Oh, Noreen, how sad and kind of scary at the same time.
ReplyDeletevery unsettling. I like what your priest said about being skipped. How blessed you are!
ReplyDeletepraise God for His timely direction. i pray that you will have physical and spiritual protection.
ReplyDeletepax Christi
Thank you ladies for your comments and prayers!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I won't add fuel to your anger, but I will pray for the vandals and for you and your neighbors. How terribly frustrating and sad.
ReplyDeleteThank you Patty! One neighbor said she did believe it was done by "wanna be gang members" because one of them had spray painted a complete sentence. Not just tagging. It was something like "we are the Latin kings."
DeleteThis is awful, Noreen! I'll pray for whoever did this and your neighbors too. I'm glad your property was spared.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mary! Their eyes need to be opened up to what they're doing so prayer is definitely needed!
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