I want to thank all of you who prayed for us on Friday after I shared that our offer for a house in East Palo Alto was accepted. In that email I asked you to pray for clarity. A couple hours after I sent out the email we received some clarity in an unexpected way. I went with a student to go see the house and planned on working in a cafe nearby to get a better sense of the neighborhood. Upon arriving at the house we discovered that the side gate was open and someone had broken into the house and stolen some of what was inside.
While this was annoying, we understand that vacant houses getting robbed is fairly common. Still a couple things gave me the sense that I was to receive this as a sign from God.
1) The fact that it was robbed hours after I invited all of you to pray and not during the months it had previously been vacant.
2) The officer who came to do the police report described the area as a "shooting gallery" and told us it is two blocks away from what is thought to be the center of activity for one of the more dangerous EPA gangs know as the "Taliban."
3) Two other houses on the street were robbed that afternoon one while residents were inside.
4) The observation that the this robbery happened on such a open street demonstrating which the officer noted was less common and may indicate an emboldening of those who are committing these crimes.
Because our primary sense of calling as I am leaving staff has not as of yet been to ministry to urban youth but instead to raise our boys and engage the world through some entrepreneurship this news lead us to believe we should not purchase this home so we decided to withdraw our offer. While it wasn't the result we were hoping for we are grateful for clarity and answered prayer.
Please pray for Jane as she continues to explore. Please pray that we find a home that is both a blessing to our family and can provides some stability from which we can be a blessing to the world.
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