Dan Jones

Tattoo

Have you ever met anyone who:

-was shot and beaten with baseball bat 3 days prior?
-still has the bullet in his back and the bumps on his skull?
-was selling crack, had been shot, had shot people, by the age of 8?
-killed his own father at the age of 10?
-spent ages 10-19 in a prison?
-didn't learn to read until teenage years?
-has been shot 10 times?
-is bitter because America is investing billions of dollars in the War on Terrorism, chasing people who behead Americans, while a friend was beheaded a few weeks ago, his severed head tossed in the trunk of a car?
-grew up in Cabrini Green? (Cabrini Green, for those who don't know, is notorious for being one of the most dangerous, impoverished projects every built, located near downtown Chicago)

I met Tattoo on Saturday, the day Tom Short preached near Taste of Chicago. I don't know if any of what he told me was true. From the looks of him, it likely was. But still, not everything lined up all the time. Tattoo is maybe mid 30's (I don't really know). He's a skinny, white, somewhat muscular, tattooed man with long brown hair. His arm was in a sling from a broken hand. On his shirtless back was a huge bruise near some gauze, covering a bullet wound. After he ran across Michigan Avenue I watched a cop yell at him, then frisk him for weapons. Apperently they knew him. He sweet talked the girls, telling them about their beautiful eyes, through which he could see their souls, saying he'd like to draw them. He made vulgar comments to the guys when the girls were out of earshot. He invited many to go to a concert with him in Garfield Park, which is one of the places we were told NOT to go by our Chicago-native friends. After finally telling him no, he invited himself back to the dorms with us, to "get some more people to go to the concert." Walking back toward the campus, the guys and myself wondered what the heck we would do. This guy was not going to be coming into the dorms.

I'm from Iowa. Many of my friends have never even shot a gun. I'm very glad Chad was there, a former marine who enjoys martial arts. Still, I have not been afraid much before in my life. I have never been afraid of anyone so much in my entire life as I was then.

So what do you do? How do you love this guy? Afterall, Jesus' second greatest commandment, after "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength" was "love your neighbor as yourself."

What do you do when this guy wants to be around the girls in your group, not showing much interest in the guys, and not showing any particular interest in learning about God? When he wants to come back to where you live?

I finally had to tell him we were gonna call it a night. That we couldn't go with him, that he couldn't come back with us. And that no one else in our group would be going with him either. I was speaking for all of the SALT participants, and all the people visiting from Ames and Iowa City. I guess that's the burden of leadership. Hope I did the right thing. Everyone in our group was awesome. In leadership of any kind, my greatest fear is that people will disagree and not follow. Several people thanked me for what I did. I very much appreciated them. All of us here in Chicago are growing more into a family every day. Please keep us in your prayers!

Posted by dan at June 27, 2004 04:51 PM