Parks in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago are the gathering place for the neighborhood. Some people have their own yards, or their own fields or like other urban dwellers they depend on parks to be a place of reprieve from concrete. It’s because of this that it’s so much fun to bring our teams to the parks.

It’s been in parks that I have seen God move the most this summer. Whether it was through a football game, a soccer game, handing out water, or people talking to strangers. It was in a park that a few little kids got to have a bunch of “big kids” play with them, and actually care about them.

On to the story- It was a rainy chilly morning in Chicago and I got to go with the small portion of our group that was working with the VBS program. A brave woman in the neighborhood decided to run a VBS this summer for kids in her neighborhood. It has been an honor to work with her. The group of us waited inside and wondered if any kids would show up because of how cold it was.

10:30 came and went, no kids, we gave up, packed up and walked out the door. There they were. Four little kids walking through her gait into the only yard in the neighborhood. From the moment they walked through the gate they made themselves at home. Sitting around her breakfast table they told her all about her morning, they looked at me curious about the newcomer, wondering what I was all about. It’s always funny to be critiqued by kids, but it’s something that these kids have had to do their whole lives, in order to survive and have a fighting chance.

The oldest of the group stood out the most, well to me. The youngest little boy probably stood out the most, with his bubbly and charming nature. But it was the oldest one of the group that caught my attention. He was the oldest in the bunch and at age seven took the roll very seriously.

He asked me my name, shook my hand, looked me up and down, looked to his neighbor for confirmation that I was safe. She nodded and smiled, but even that wasn’t confirmation enough. It would take time to earn his trust and respect. To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t know if I ever gained it. All I know is that when we got the park, he and his cousins got to be kids.

That was the miracle that day. Our group played with them, laughed with them, pushed them on the swings, and most importantly, made these kids their top priority. The kids were given a safe place, where they were protected and provided for, if even for an afternoon and evening.

Their neighbor, the lovely woman who is putting on VBS, has earned their trust and respect. They know that she is safe, genuinely cares about them, and what she expects of them (please, thank you, may I…?) all of these things are clear. This is what brings me peace at them end of the day. We’re only here to help her out. She’s going to be there, tomorrow, the next day and the next day and the next day. She’ll be there with these kids for years to come. But that day in the park will forever stick with me, we all need those places where we feel safe, provided for and free to be ourselves.