These Cities

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I'm finding myself thinking a lot today about crime and the city. 

The first thing that grabbed me was an article from the News Journal that mentioned in passing that my city, Wilmington DE, had the third highest crime rate for cities our size. http://goo.gl/69PJh

The next thing I read was about the spike in murders in Philly, just 20 minutes up the road. They're going to top the homicide list this year.http://goo.gl/Xi1Og 

And then we have Camden, also right near us with a similarly grim crime outlook being listed as the 2nd most dangerous city in America.http://goo.gl/WiIzl

So what's the deal with the Delaware Valley here? I love living here. I think its one of the best places in the world to live and I LOVE our cities, seriously! Yet for some reason, there's an element of our population that's just living crazy. What are the spiritual forces over these places that is causing all of this? I just don't know. What are we to do as Christians against these dark forces?

I know that God has called me and my family to live in this city, but it would seem foolishness to some to choose to live here. I know that this is a good place filled with good people that God loves. If we choose to abandon these cities and leave them to their fate, how can we live with Jesus' command to go to the poor and oppressed and make disciples of them.