May 19, 2018

Show the World Jesus

Jesus wept. – John 11:35

It happened again. That which we vowed wouldn’t, did. Students ran for their lives as a student-gunman aimed to kill those in a place that should have been safe.

Shootings within our schools simply shouldn’t happen. But they do. Why? Our hearts cry out in anguish. It is so senseless. Young lives cut short. A teacher gone too soon. Others suffering in hospitals. Lives that will relive the trauma forever.

Jesus wept. It’s the shortest verse in the Bible. It’s very simplicity draws us closer to the One who came to save us all. Jesus had the power to save Lazarus from death. And though He knew He would raise His friend from the dead, still Jesus let Lazarus die. He let Mary and Martha suffer.

But Jesus is not a Savior from a distance. He stands beside us to comfort and strengthen us when the senseless dramas of this world threaten to destroy us. He mourns with us.

Why did this happen? How can we stop it from happening again? I wish I had all the answers but I don’t. No one does. Is this pure evil or does it stem from the brokenness of people who are hurting so badly that they want others to hurt badly too?

Our mental health system fails kids every single day. So do the social service agencies designed to keep them safe. We are so focused on saving the family that we send children back again and again to places where they aren’t safe and nurtured and loved. We ignore obvious signs of distress because we don’t want to get involved and we don’t want to provide the resources to help children who are hurting. We’d rather look the other way than deal with the stigma called mental illness.

I don’t know this young man’s story. All the details haven’t begun to show themselves. Maybe we will never know it all. But I do know that a young man wearing a trench coat in the Texas heat should raise a few questions. It’s not normal. It’s not okay.

We’d rather not know. We prefer to isolate ourselves in our own little worlds rather than extend a helping hand. We prefer to talk with our friends, to gather with those who are like us, than welcome someone who is different, someone who is alone. We marginalize people who desperately need to belong somewhere, to someone.

Maybe the answer isn’t in big programs with lots of money thrown at them. Maybe the answer lies a little closer to home. Maybe it’s found in our hearts. Can we be the people who extend kindness to those who seem the least deserving? Can we reach out to those we don’t particularly like so that they can come to the altar of Christ?

It all begins with Jesus. It all ends there too. We have forgotten how to love the lost, the lonely, the poor and the rejected. We have forgotten that they are our problems, our challenges, our responsibility, because Jesus said it was so. Jesus told us to love one another. Why do we think He didn’t mean us?

Once again we have children hurting, parents grieving and a town shattered by violence. Instead of looking to others for answers, maybe it’s time we looked inside ourselves. Ask Jesus to meet you there. Open your eyes and your heart. People everywhere are hurting. Extend a helping hand. Show them Jesus by your words and your actions. Live your faith, one hurting person at a time.

April 3, 2018

Love With Action

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:12-13

It was enough to send normally rational people into a tizzy. They were ready to come to blows over their “rights”. How dare someone, anyone, but especially teens, question them!

Yet, how bold and courageous were those young people to stand up and voice their concerns and opinions. They defied the establishment. They demanded accountability and change.

It all started with a school shooting. It wasn’t the first time. But nothing had been done by the adults who should have rushed to make changes long before now. They were too busy pointing fingers while kids were dying just for being at school.

Instead of reducing the violence, it seemed to be escalating. Were school shootings becoming normal? That’s just unacceptable. Something has to be done.

So these teens, these survivors, marched in order to be heard. They descended on Washington and demanded answers and change. They were within their rights to do so. This is a democracy. Everyone heard them. And for that they were attacked and condemned.

I believe strongly in the Second Amendment. I own guns and I know how to use them. That would probably shock a few people. I am not a hunter. I use those guns to kill snakes and varmints on the farm. And I use those guns for protection. I have been trained by law enforcement officers. I hope I never have to shoot another human being but, if I must, I will.

I don’t want to take away guns from law abiding citizens. But we’ve got a problem. Agencies aren’t communicating and reporting issues in a way that alerts authorities when someone who is unstable or has a history of violence is purchasing a gun. We have serious issues with mental health. The time to act is before something happens but our system doesn’t allow for that. We’ve got to change it.

And regular folks don’t need AK-15s or other combat guns. We don’t need them for defending ourselves, for hunting, even for collecting. Those in the military who use those types of weapons train and train and train. They aren’t meant for amateurs. They aren’t intended for people who have no business using  them.

I don’t know how to stop school shootings. I wish I did. I do believe it’s going to take everyone talking – not pointing fingers and passing blame – to make a difference. I admire those kids for stepping up and doing what we adults should have done after the first shooting – demand change.

It would have been easier for them to soldier on, getting through the days until graduation. They could have filled their time with normal teen activities and tried to forget the horror they’d witnessed. They chose to step up and step forward, enduring criticism that was at times unfair and unkind. They chose to make sure that no other school would ever have to endure that kind of terror and that kind of heartbreak.

They loved with action those who no longer have a voice.

February 25, 2018

Live the Change You Want to See

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – Romans 12:21

What should we do? Should we ban assault rifles? Should we make background checks more thorough? Should we throw money and resources at our failing mental health system? What is the answer?

Maybe the real answer, the permanent solution, lies within us. Sure, we need all those things listed above and more. But the only way to combat the kind of anger and hate that ignites mass shootings is to change ourselves.

Only someone who is truly broken inside could do something so horrendous as kill innocent students and teachers. I am not naïve. Some evil will always exist among us. But I truly believe that we manufacture much of the evil in this world by our indifference to those who are marginalized in our society.

Is it any surprise that school shootings have increased right along with incidents of bullying? Is it any wonder that violence has escalated as our families are broken, pulling away from extended families and stable neighborhoods? Are we really shocked that children who no longer grow up with a foundation of faith have no where to turn with their hurt?

Our society as a whole has taken a wrong turn and that means you and I need to be the change. We’re so focused on “my” freedom that we’ve forgotten we all belong to each other. We’re so independent that we’ve forgotten we all need each other. We’re so absorbed with ourselves that we’ve for too long ignored those who desperately need to be included.

We are all just so very busy. We are too busy to reach out to the latch-key children down the street. We are too busy to include an elderly neighbor in our dinner plans. We just don’t have the time for coffee with a co-worker going through a hard time.

We don’t want to be bothered by the troubles of others. We don’t want to deal with the hurts and trials of those around us. What if it rubs off on us? We have enough on our plates without taking on someone else.

Except what we’ve done is left hurting people with nowhere else to go. They become angrier and angrier until they finally erupt. It’s a tough scenario for an adult. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for a teenager?

We fail each other every single day. We just do. We forget to be kind and giving, to be generous with what matters. People. They’re what matters. We seem to focused on stuff, on status, on our own little world, to see those who are on the fringes, desperate to be noticed.

This debate will likely rage for quite some time. There are no easy answers. But instead of focusing on what “someone else” should do, look in the mirror and focus on what you can do. Be kind today. Smile at a stranger. Include someone who would otherwise be alone. Live the change you want to see.

February 23, 2018

Love God and Love Each Other

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37-39

We are all still reeling from the latest school shooting. Another 17 students and teachers dead. Hundreds, if not thousands, of students traumatized. Let the finger pointing begin.

Why? We ask ourselves that again and again. This is the 18^th school shooting this year, and we aren’t even done with February yet. What has happened to our nation that such horrific violence has entered our schools?

Everyone has an answer. We need tougher gun laws. We need to enforce the gun laws we already have. The FBI didn’t do its job. The mental health system is broken. Agencies need to be more vigilant in reporting unstable behavior. It’s those violent video games kids have these days. Violence is everywhere on television and in movies. Kids don’t understand that death is final. Parents aren’t taking responsibility for discipling their kids. They don’t control their children so children never learn about responsibility and consequences.

The list could go on and on. The truth is every one of those excuses is probably partially true and the whole makes for a broken culture.

How do we fix it? Jesus. Oh, I know. There are those who don’t want to hear that. How could Jesus fix this? Jesus can fix anything and anyone.

And before those conservative Christians start the battle cry, let me quickly add that the beginning should come with the hypocrites keeping their hatred to themselves. I am sickened by the so-called Christians who use the gospel to promote their own political views.

Have you ever seen the movie Woodlawn? It’s the true story of racial strife in Birmingham, AL, and what happens when Jesus shows up. It took one man with a true faith to step forward and allow the Holy Spirit to use him. He could have fueled the flames of unrest. He could have used the violence and discord to further his own agenda. He didn’t. He turned his message to Jesus and that made all the difference.

We are at a crossroads in our nation. The young are rising up and we have a prime opportunity to turn tragedy into a call for genuine faith. I don’t have the answers but Jesus does. He is the only One who can minister to this deep hurt and create a change that brings healing to all of us.

I want to live in a world where our children can attend school without fear of unstable people killing them. I want them to know the peace and security that comes when Jesus is at the helm of all our lives.

Jesus told us what to do. Get rid of the hate and meanness that dot this country. Love God and love each other. Period.

February 17, 2018

Look in the Mirror

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” – Matthew 7:21-23

Hatred. It permeates our society, on every level, in every heart. We point fingers at others, all the while ignoring the hypocrisy in our own hearts. We are part of the problem.

Christians should be the most loving people around. We should be the first to forgive, the first to do good, the first to speak kindness in this dark world. Just the opposite is true. We loudly proclaim our hatred for “liberals” and “gays” and “immigrants.” We declare exactly who and what Jesus hates, calling our hard hearts justified.

Except Jesus was never about hate. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to save us. Did Jesus ever get angry? Of course, He did – at the Pharisees and others who believed themselves to be better than the common sinners of the day.

Do we all sin? Absolutely. Is sin wrong? Without a doubt. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that Christians have the right to judge others. In fact, the Bible tells us to NOT judge others. Somehow, we don’t think it means us.

I’m not someone who believes the fairy tale some pastors preach. While God does want good for us, He never said we’d get a reward on this earth. In fact, Jesus told us to expect difficulties. We don’t like difficulties. We don’t want to suffer for our faith. And we surely don’t want to show anyone who isn’t like us grace and mercy.

Jesus loved people where they were. He didn’t hate illegal immigrants. He didn’t paint them with a brush that said “lazy,” “worthless,” or “unwanted.” Does it excuse their actions for coming into this country illegally? No. It doesn’t. But anyone who rejects them and hates them doesn’t have Jesus in his heart.

What about those of different religions? Do we reject and condemn them for not believing as we do? Jesus welcomed everyone, be they Samaritans or Gentiles or Jews. He came to save everyone. He never pushed away those who believed differently because He knew that drawing them closer with love and acceptance was the better way to change their soul.

We feel threatened by those who are different so we push them away and call it “our opinion.” Hatred spews from our mouths and then we loudly cry for help when violence once against shows up in our schools. We don’t consider what we are teaching, what we are showing the innocents with out actions and our words.

Do you want to stop the hatred and violence that lives around us? Look in the mirror. Check your words before you speak. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it something that Jesus would say? Stop wearing the Christian badge and acting like you live for Him when your life carries the message of hate to a hurting world. Change yourself first and let God’s light change the world.