Next Door Neighbor and Child Abuse

A few weeks ago I was pulling my car into the driving after an outing with my sweet wife Linny. I was saying something to her when she "shushed" me.

"I want to hear what the neighbor is saying" ,she whispered to me.

The next thing I know my other next door neighbor's granddaughter is standing in front of my house. Her husband throws a hammer on the ground and marches up to the neighbor on the opposite side of my house. This is the one screaming at the top of his lungs that he is going to kill his kid.

The man marching up to the abusive daddy's house is an off-duty police officer that is helping out his wife's grandmother by fixing up her home.

He bangs on the door and shows the screaming man his badge and identifies himself as a police officer. He calls for my local police to come.

The rest of the story took place in the man's home once the city police arrived. I think they let him off with a warning.

Apparently this was not enough.

Today when my wife arrived home from being out with her mother, the next door neighbor's ten year old boy came flying out of the house. The little guy was wearing only a pair of shorts. He ran into the street on this scorching August day with his abusive father in hot pursuit.

Once again the man is screaming at the top of his lung, "When I catch you I'm going to kill you. I'll beat you, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Linny jumped out of her mother's car and down to the center of the street and confronted this idiot. She pointed her finger at him and said, "What is wrong with you! Don't you know that God is going to judge you for this!"

This big man, covered in tattoos looked at her dumbfounded. He turned around and ran back into his house and slammed the door shut.

The little boy was crying and Linny asked if wanted to come to our house and get a drink and cool off. He had a pop bottle filled with water that he was pouring on his burning bare feeet. He sheepishly said, "No ma'am, I better not."

Linny went home and was upset about this the rest of the day.



May You Oh Lord God convict this man and fill him with Your fear. May You also fill him with a yearning to get help to become a good father to his children. I ask this in the Name of Your Son Jesus.