Article April 1, 2024 Issue

Standing among children of God

As the crowd grew more belligerent, I remembered my earlier prayers and realized that these kids, too, were God’s children.

Laurie Toupin

While our son and his friends were celebrating his sixteenth birthday, about twenty students from a neighboring town tried to crash the party. Their own party had been shut down by the police, and apparently they had found out about our party on social media and decided to attend.

When they didn’t gain admittance, they refused to leave, even though my husband and I asked them politely and firmly several times. We were standing in our driveway, arms outstretched, trying to reason with them, explaining that this was not an open party. As we continued to block them, a sizable group of our son’s friends who were already at the party came to back us up.

While my husband called the police, I stood between the two groups and prayed.