These days bring news that evokes sobs: Oh! God! Equally, so many moments in each day show me unexpected blessings making me cry in gratitude, Oh! God!
Has there ever been a crazier, a more disorienting, scary, wonderful era in my life?
No.
Until now, even when life blew up in my face, usually because of my own stupid choices, the ground felt solid underneath my feet. Back then, though, I was building on sand. (Matthew 7:24-27)
Today, Christ is my foundation; yet, precariousness has never felt more real.
I listened to the The Color of Compromise, and learned facts that I never knew; attitudes and actions the church should have resisted, but did not.
So, I get why one speaker at the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington DC, Jacob Blake, said:
I am not angry; I am tired. (LINK)
OH God, our Lord:
For what we, your people have thought said and done, and not done, please God forgive us. More than that, Lord, change us, oh God.
Purify our minds with You wisdom.
Restrain us from intemperate, defensive speech; hold back violent impulsive actions.
Open our eyes to see the GOOD we can do; empower us with strength and courage to do the right thing.
Moreover, Oh! God, make me, Lord a stepping stone, and not a doormat to the change that each day brings, remembering my job is search and rescue.
Rescue the Perishing: Proverbs 24:10-12
If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
there wasn’t much to you in the first place.
Rescue the perishing;
don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
You and I dear reader, are not so old we are sidelined from offering a cup of cold water; for standing for righteousness; for kneeling in confession and repentance, and still hoping in the God whose battle this is, but WHOSE soldiers we are.
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
let them proclaim your power. Psalm 145:4