LOYAL SOLDIERS, LEYTONSTONE

boys making the sign "L" for Leytonstone, photo from today's Times article

In today's Times newspaper, there is an exclusive interview with two anonymous members of a gang from Leytonstone referred to as the "Loyal Soldiers". This seems to be the same crew mentioned in my previous post, associated with Acacia Road in Leytonstone. I was very surprised that this article focussed on these two gang members from Leytonstone as I haven't seen much reference to Waltham Forest gangs in the national press previously.

The two boys interviewed seem to delight in shocking the journalist with their tales of stabbing and being stabbed. As one of them comments, he is not afraid to die:

"Everyone's going to die.

That's in the book of life"

I remember another young teenager saying almost exactly the same words to me once. This boy was a gang member from Hackney, called Kayoss, who often told me stories to try and shock me. I never knew how much was true and how much was just talk, but it was certainly clear that death was a reality that was never far from his mind. He told me several times "I'm not afraid to die, everyone's going to die some time".

The reality of death is constantly in the minds of these boys, and there's a sense of inevitability that they know they are destined to die. I pray that the "tender mercy of our God" would break into the dark shadows so that these boys can find their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

"the rising sun will come to us from heaven

to shine on those living in darkness

and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the path of peace"

(Luke 1:79)