About a month ago, a very handsome young man from South Florida was shot and killed in a community in the Orlando, Fl area. This young man was from a neighborhood not far from where we live. This story is all over the news. Not just here but all over the country. It is a tragedy! There is no doubt about that and in my writing this blog I want to in no way take away from what happened to this young man. His life was taken from him. One day he was walking around with a bag of skittles and a bottle of tea and the next day he was dead and his family was grieving in ways that most of us can't even begin to imagine. As a parent who has lost a child I know there loss is beyond the scope of imagination and then to have it happen in a senseless tragedy like this, well, I can't even begin to know how they feel.
But, honestly what keeps running through my mind these last few days is the hate that almost seems to surround this whole situation. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't in any way condone the actions of the person who pulled the trigger. I know I don't know the story, I am not sure any of us will ever know the whole truth behind what happened that night, but my heart breaks for the divide that it is bringing.
What my heart breaks even more over is that justice is more important to us than love. What good is all the hate that is being directed at the man who pulled the trigger going to do? In my heart of hearts, I know that what he did that night was not right. I would rather die myself than do that to another human being! That being said, the things that keep going through my mind these last few days is how can we, any of us, stand back and cast these stones. Yes, we can all hope that there will be due process for this young man and that the law will do what it promises to do and bring to justice those who commit crimes like this against us and those we love, but if we say we Love God and we say that God sent his son to bear our sins on that cross, then how can we hate?
I ask this question because honestly I am very heart broken over how some people have responded to this tragedy. I truly believe that we can honor the memory of this young man that was lost! How do we do that?
We change the tide! We reverse the curse that seems to have plaqued us for generation after generation and we stop the hate. Yes, it may be quite true that the man who shot Trayvon Martin did so out of hate, but how do we stop that hate from growing, from becoming a bigger monster than it already is. It seems to me that what we have done in the past has not changed it. So how do we do it?
WE LOVE! WE FORGIVE! Nothing says justice more than Love, right?
I know that I am human. I know that I have made mistakes. I know that I will probably make more mistakes in my life. I know that I have hurt people and that in my humanness, I may still hurt people. Am I trying to compare the wrong things that I have done in my life to those of the man who shot this poor kid. No, in most people's minds in may not compare, but in God's mind, I really don't know. I am sure that I have spoke a hurtful word before that drained life from someone, somewhere. We all have been guilty of something that hurt someone at some point in our life.
As I watch this story unfold day after day, I continue to see how important it is for us to remember that Jesus came to save us all. Every single one of us! Even the man who pulled the trigger that fateful night. What I have learned from watching this story unfold is that there are not many people who will stand up and say I LOVE YOU! Not just to Treyvon Martin but to the man who shot him! If we could do this, if we could stand as people and say, Hate will not live in me today. What if we followed in the footsteps of the man who chose Love that day on that cross and said today I choose LOVE. What would happen if Love was louder than Hate?
After hearing the whole story, what happened here took place because of fear on both sides, even more so than hate. Fear born out of a lack of love of course. My saying that because of what it says about fear written in 1 John 4:18. My coming to that conclusion by piecing together what did perhaps happen between the two, both being in the wrong, according to the news reports I have heard so far. Fear of one another on both sides mostly, rather than hate.
ReplyDeleteBut now out of that, hate is being encouraged or born out of what started out by the two because of fearing one another. We need to pray for God to stop it before more lives are lost as a result of that hate escalating into what we do not want to see happen.
Very good analysis! Thank you.
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