He may not fly.

He may not shoot webs out his hands.

He may not fight crime by beating up the bad guys and getting them shipped off to prison.

But he is a hero.

In fact, this hero fights crime by LOVING the gangster.  By being the bad guy’s friend.  By giving the teen just out of prison a safe place to come home to.

He lives and labors and loves in Newark, NJ.

His name is David Comeau.

Two weeks ago, our good friend, David, came to visit us.  Now, more than ever, David is a hero in my eyes, as he is in so many little eyes that look up to him every day.  David is loving and laboring for the precious kids, teens, and families that we had to leave behind in Newark.  What great comfort it was to us, as we prepared to move to Orlando, to know that someone who loved Jesus so much would also love our “spiritual children” that we were leaving behind.

We met David over three years ago, when he came up to Newark during one of his college’s long weekends.  I guess he fell in love with the place.  He then returned for every spring break trip that his college took to Newark (even leading it a couple of times).  He returned for a summer internship, spearheading a summer camp smack dab IN the housing projects.  And now that he has graduated college, he has committed three years of  his life to discipling “the least of these”…. You know, those young African American men, who are often just statistics.  The ones that usually drop out of high school only to land themselves in prison…or vise versa.  He is giving them vision for life beyond joining the local gang and bumming their life away.  He meets with them once a week to get them reading the Bible.  He invests in their lives and listens to their stories.  He gives them responsibilities (at our after school program) so that they can gain confidence in themselves as contributing members of society.  He takes them on trips to visit colleges, giving them sweet glimpses of opportunities beyond what they had ever imagined.  He teaches them of their Savior so that they might begin living life for a Kingdom FAR greater than “which Crip runs what street”.

Danny and I know all too well, the burdens that he daily carries…the emergencies that he has to come running to aid in….the heartache of seeing so many people living in daily sufferings far beyond what most of us could imagine… the sheer number of people looking to you to be their only friend, strong place, helping hand, spiritual advisor…the physical needs that people come to him with, that need money, money he doesn’t have.

Despite the odds stacked against him, and the odds stacked against the people he daily serves, he continues on with supernatural strength–not flight, or arms of steel, or lightning quick reflexes, but with

LOVE (from the God who IS love)

PATIENCE (from the perfectly patient Father)

PERSEVERANCE (from the One who endured the cross)

HOPE (from the One who is preparing a place for us)

VISION (from the eyes of the Great Redeemer of brokenness)

David overcomes evil because the One who overcame the Evil One lives in him.  He’s being the hands and feet and heart of Jesus, the Restorer God, the Healing God, THE Mighty Hero.

To check out MORE heros in Newark, NJ and what they are up to go to                     Safe Haven’s website