Sheep not Goats

Fellow Believers, In light of the Syrian Refugees how do you think we should interpret what the bible is telling us to do for them in these verses? Matt. 5: 42 Give to the one who asks you, and DO NOT TURN AWAY from the one who wants to borrow from you. Ephesians 5:1-2 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Leave Me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU DID NOT INVITE ME IN; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me .’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will reply to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these , you did not do it for Me.’ Then these will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are righteous and in right standing with God [will go, by His remarkable grace] into eternal (unending) life.”

I do not pretend to understand the economical ramification of allowing any influx of any large group of immigrants, all I know is that God has called us to unselfishly seek the best for others. If you would do it for your fellow American you should do it for every other human being on earth. The love we are called to does not see race, gender, nationality or creed. As Christians we are called to be citizens of a higher kingdom. Jesus does not give us exceptions on loving others because they are from a different country or they might be terrorists. When Jesus was teaching, Rome had long since invaded their country. The Romans were the Terrorists of the day. Yet Jesus told them to to do more than just love and pray for them at a distance. We are called to sacrifice in love as Jesus did regardless of the cost to us. If God has called us to do this do we not believe he is in control of the situation when we actually do it. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, If you still don't think we should welcome the refugees in I ask please take another look at Matthew 5:38-48 and 25:31-46. Open your heart to let God speak his truth into it. Don’t be made prejudice by fear. Don’t be poisoned by hatred. Our God is bigger than the pain any terrorist creates. Our only response should be love. Has our response to the Syrian refugees glorified God, have we shown the world God's love in what we have done? Can we love them as God loves them? ‪#‎RefugeesWelcome‬ 

The Strangeness of Grief

This was meant to be posted the day of Ryan's Funeral but I couldn't bear to do it then, so I just left it sitting as a draft, but now months later, time always has a way bringing acceptance and easing the ache.  I was thinking of him today and wanted to share this.

JULY 2014

There is a Funeral I am supposed to be at today.  Time, distance, and obligations have made it impossible to be there with the whole country between us.  Instead I am at work and having to talk and instruct more people then I care to count all while trying not to cry.  It's hard today, not to be judgemental of people who are freaking out over their tiny problem that actually have very easy solutions.  Grief is not so easy.

Grief in death is a strange thing.  I think most times we treat it like a problem to be solved.  We want to slap some band-aid over it, and pretend that it can be fixed. I don't think you can actually fix grief, you just live through it. Even when there is hope and peace, I feel with death there is always some part of grief that remains.  And it's like everyone knows that it takes time to heal from the death of a loved one but we all still rush to tell some one, "God will bring you peace, God will heal your heart."  And while this is true over time God can mend the brokeness if you let him, it doesn't actually  help anyone to say this.  For awhile, in the beginning the pain is just untouchable, and there is nothing you can do with it and there's no timeline for how long it might last.  It can even come and go in waves with good days and bad.  Special days and events can split the wound wide open again.

And with grief you should never try to bear it all on your own, but even with the support of friends and family in some part you do face it alone.  The beauty of love is that with each person you care for it is unique, but it also makes grief itself unique.  Pain can be shared but it can only go as far as what can typically be shared in your similar experiences.  What made them yours, made you care, made them different, and all the reasons you love them are yours alone to feel and yours alone to grieve. Its part of the burden that comes with the beauty of love.  It does not in anyway make love less worth it, in fact it's what makes love real.  That love can feel like a knife shoved in your heart or a bomb exploding inside of your chest in the first moments of grief,  but then maybe a day will come along when the memories aren't so painful you can once again feel the same beauty and peace that it brought. One day those memories might  make you smile with delight and joy, instead aching and in tears.  We can only hope that even if now we feel so low and weak one day we might realize loving them made us stronger made us better.

I've been praying so hard for his family, I can't imagine having to bear going through my son's funeral.