"A Victim Treats His Mugger Right"

I found this story on NPR.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

It is so encouraging to know when people are in the right place, doing the right thing. Truly, this man - Julio Diaz - is in the right field of work. He gets people. He actually knows what it means to let go of the worldly things, and focus on the importance of individuals... even when that means a "sacrifice" of his own on behalf of perfect strangers...

Then I kept reading, and it also made me really sad. This teenage boy- whoever he was - had probably never had anyone actually show care for him like that. He, like many others that surround him and we encounter perhaps even daily, has found himself trapped in the middle of a broken, hurting world. He's become such a part of the viscous cycle of taking and fighting for survival, that it truly never occurred to him that he could live another way.

My prayer is that there are lots of Julios out there... and that together, they (we) can learn to live more fully into this life that Christ has called us to. Not one of fear and violence, but one of love and patience and humility.