Drug Dealers and the Kingdom of God

As I sit here and reflect on my time here and on my community the all too familiar smell of marijuana fills the air of my patio overlooking the favela. That smell and the metaphorical wreak of the drug traffic fill this community; each day as I walk enter and leave the favela (slum) I walk past the same two guys that are selling drugs on the corner. One guy usually is sitting up a little higher (the pathway out of the favela slants up) waiting for cars to slow down on their way by and he asks them what they want and collects their money. The other guy, usually waiting further into the favela then comes up with the drugs and the car speeds off. They do this for obvious reasons of keeping the drugs as far away from the street as possible so if the police come they will not find the drugs. As I had previously commented the favela itself is a labyrinth of walkways, one who doesn’t live in the favela would quickly become lost and it is easy for someone to run away and hide in any number of places. I comment on the drug dealers because every day as I walk by them I find myself hoping that the police will come and take them away, find myself wishing that they would be thrown into jail and stay there forever. These guys are about my age, maybe a bit younger and sell drugs there for about $20/day which here is about twice the normal day’s wage. I don’t know why I feel such animosity for them every time I pass them, but I guess it is because I feel like they are a disease that infests and is destroying the community I now call home. I am now however realizing that they are not the disease, but mere symptoms of the larger problem of the vast injustice and sin of this world. I realize that if they had the opportunities to have good education (instead of the terrible 4 hours a day public education) or a well paying job they would much rather earn a living that way. I realize that it is largely the rich people that surround this community that keep the drug trafficking alive, those that roll by in their fancy cars and buy their drugs and leave. I realize the drug dealers are as much victims of the injustices of the world as anything. Today as I was returning from a house visit of a family in another favela I had to pause entering the favela as I noticed these same two guys who usually look very serious selling drugs or arrogantly dancing, drinking and singing were instead innocently smiling as they flew a kite between the electric wires and houses. It was in that moment that I realized that I had been so eager to judge them, to sentence them to a lifetime of prison, when it is they who are also kids and deserve another chance. More often than not they are the brothers of the younger kids who I play with nearly every day and spend much time with. I realize they are lost sheep without a shepherd, most have never had a positive role model in their lives and are doing the only thing they know. I realize my anger towards them is misguided that I am angry at the hostage instead of the kidnaper. I realize that my anger is justifiable, but is wrongly aimed, my anger should be with the injustice of the world, with the pain and the torment; I need to cry out to God to rain his justice down on my neighborhood and to bring healing to my community.
Just as I was thinking this over I was stopped by a guy a bit younger than me who I had played some soccer with and he asked me how I was doing and said he heard that we came in second in that tournament (he had played the first Saturday, but missed the second one). We ended up talking for about an hour about futebol, basketball and a myriad of other subjects when he got a phone call and I noticed his luxurious phone and listened to his phone call which was clearly an order for drugs to come to some location. I then came to understand that he is one of the leaders of the drug traffic along with previously mentioned Giló (who I occasionally talk to now, actually seems like a pretty friendly and intelligent guy). This guy whose name is Stallone is so nice, incredibly welcoming, a great soccer player, articulate and seems to have big dreams, he is also a drug dealer. Another guy Claudio, is in his 50’s just got out of jail for a 35 year sentence of killing a police officer when he was a like 16 years old who is also involved in the drug trade. He was the first person to every say hi to me in the favela, he welcomed me here, said he was glad to have me here and said that I had a good heart to come and live and serve in this community. He said he wanted to have a heart like me too. When I met him I thought he was the friendliest guy and then I come to find his background. I am realizing that drug dealers are God’s children too, they are people too, they are sinners just like me and need the same redemption that I need. I am learning not to look at them as evil drug dealers, but to look at them as people, as Stallone, Giló, Claudio and Lucas. I am learning to pray for them and not wish harm on them and to hope that God can use them to bring change to this world. Even as I write this I realize that it was perhaps the drug dealers of the day (tax collectors, emblems of an empire gone wrong, just like a drug dealer today) that were welcomed into the kingdom even forming part of Jesus’ circle of friends. I realize that change can come to this community, but only by the grace of God and the power of prayer. I ask that you would join with me, to pray for these guys, these friends who are caught up in drug trafficking, I would ask that you would pray for healing and the breaking of the bonds of oppression of drug dealing here. I pray that God might use me in some way to bring this change in the life of one of those guys, that they might be able to see that there is more to life than the temporary power and money of the drug dealing, that there is something bigger out there, something actually worth dying for that they should be living for.