Last summer a traveling carnival set up right next to our house on 920 West Wilson. It went on till about midnight playing real loud music every night. It was pretty obnoxious, and was really getting on my nerves.

The next day at work a bunch of us were complaining about it. Later in the day, I began to think about how our neighborhood cuts us some tolerance when we play loud music. I kind of got sick of hearing myself complain, and said, “Wow, maybe we ought to go over there and let them know what we’re about.”

It was just that, and a prayer, and the next thing I knew the guys at Lakefront gave me a stack of Bibles to go hand out to the carnival people! Then our record label, Grrr recordS, gave me a stack of Christian tapes to bring over as well. Everyone was so generous, I couldn’t believe it!

It was really hard taking that first step into the carnival. I was pretty nervous, but after I talked to the first person the Lord just took over. It was easy. Most of the people were willing to receive. They were astounded that someone cared enough to give them something.

I remember going to this one woman who said she had three girls that slept in her trailer with her. She wondered if I had extra Bibles because they needed to start studying. Then I was talking to the guy who ran the ride that played real loud music. He said, “Man, I’m a Christian. I just play the rap.” He took a Left Out tape, the Blamed, and T-Bone. The next day, when the music was blaring, it was our own Christian bands! He was more than willing to play them.

A few people turned the Bibles down, but when I talked to somebody else I would see them looking over to hear what I had to say. They were interested.

As I talked with the carnival people, I remembered this carny kid I knew back in high school. He was really hurting and needy. I remember him telling me how his dad would beat him; he said that that was no life. He went to a carnival one time and they had a job, so he left when he was fifteen and had been with them ever since. They were his family.

I could tell that this was their family. In a way, they are their own community. It’s their way of life. It provides them a place where they are cared about and have responsibilities—a place where they are needed. They’re a people who work hard for what little they have, and their life is a rough one. I think it was a breath of fresh air for them to think that somebody wanted to give them a chance, that God wanted to enter their carnival.

When the carnival left our neighborhood there wasn’t a bunch of music or Bibles lying in the trash cans. It seemed like they took everything I brought over. It was really awesome. When you go out to witness you often see a lot of tracts lying on the ground. I didn’t see that here. Everything I gave went.

I’m not sure how many lives were changed that day other than mine. It was nothing I did, but I really did feel God in my life that day, working through me. It made me realize that when something’s bothering us, if we look at it rightly, it just might become an opportunity to serve the Lord.

First published in Cornerstone (ISSN 0275-2743), Vol. 29, Issue 119 (2000), p. 9
© 2000 Cornerstone Communications, Inc.
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