As hesitant as I am to break the ice, people have been getting on to me (Pat), so here goes.

So Colin got jumped... in his own house. One night after hanging out with us, he went home and a few minutes later heard a knock on the back door. He opened it and was greeted with a punch in the face, then three guys attacked him until his 60 yr old ex-boxer neighboor came and chased them off. Colin fared well, getting out with only a black eye and some scrapes, but is worried about his mom, who he lives with.

This is the atmosphere approaching the 12th, which is the big Protestant holiday. The guys we know have been getting in several fights, mainly with each other, but its clear that there is some tension in the air. On the 12th communities light massive bonfires, 60ft. high, and bands march throughout the town as the prods celebrate winning some battle 200 years ago. It serves well to give an excuse to get drunk or get even, and then the catholics have a go at it on the 15th of August with their own fires, which the teenagers around here have already started working on.

There doesn't seem to be much escape from the cycle. The young prods and catholics grow up playing on the same football teams, and then get old enough to realize that they hate each other. Certain areas of town are strictly off limits for certain groups, with both sides feeling mistreated by the other.

There is an escape though, as Colin has shown us. After a rather thuggish adolescence, he became a Christian and walked away from the violence and drinking. The attack, that would in the past have been returned and then some with 15 or so friends, has been dealt with (so far) with a warning from his 300 pound dad. It is a good reminder for me that a social problem like this will rarely be solved with a secular solution (in this case integrating the schools or the myriad of other things the govt has tried), but when the Gospel spreads, the problems seem to take care of themselves.

For us however, spreading the Gospel is the problem, so please be praying for God to do His work through or in spite of us. People around here view Christianity as a list of do's and don'ts, as opposed to a relationship. I was talking to one girl probably 14 yrs old the other night who asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes, and she told me that she was a good girl; she didn't drink or whatever else. I asked her if she was a Christian, and she told me that she wasn't that good yet. That is the thought process of alot of people we are around, so pray for Brian, Luke, Decky, Rory, Ross, Chrissy, Shawn, Paul, Ryan, Kylie, Michael, John, Vinny, to name a few, that the light would break through in some of their hearts. Thanks!