May the Fourth Be With You!!

I should be writing a paper right now, but instead… well, here I am.

If you thought from the title that this blog would be related in any way to Star Wars, I apologize for the ensuing disappointment. (If you desire, feel free to find parallels, but that’s really not the point.)

The past month has been pretty rough and tumble for me and a few people close to me. Things got incredibly busy, we’ve been sick, we’ve been stressed, we’ve had strain on important relationships… April was rough.

Turning over a new page on the calendar, thinking May will be a nice, fresh start, I came home May 1^st and found our house ransacked, the back door swinging in the night breeze, and one of our cats missing.

My first thought when I realized someone had gone through my bedroom was: 

I hope they left here more aware of God than when they came in. I’m glad He was here to meet them in the Scriptures on my walls. I’m glad He’s here with us now. And I’m glad He is good.

Throughout that evening, as I went through the motions of making a police report and as I rode the adrenaline rush with my roommate and a good friend into the not-so-wee hours of the morning, I didn’t pray deliberately, but there was a deepened sense of God-consciousness and an incredible peace that came with that. I was scared and frustrated; I felt violated and vulnerable (particularly knowing our back door was no better than precariously closed). But I also felt a wave of compassion and sorrow for whoever it was that broke into our house and frantically searched for items that could easily turn into cash. Listening to others expressing anger and a desire to retaliate… I didn’t. I don’t. I want better for them than the life they’re living and I hope they will experience a more significant change of heart and path than that which comes through retaliatory hostility.

I want for them the radical transformation that comes through encountering the God who IS love.

My parents want me to move someone safer. Everyone is talking about installing security systems and motion sensors. People have started telling us lots of stories about having their cars and houses broken into.

True, we will move forward differently and take some wise precautions. But I hope that rather than descending into the spiraling fear and frustration of dwelling on the brokenness of our world and of this city God loves,

Perhaps you will join me in praying for restoration.

For those living in the constant uncertainty and insecurity of poverty

For those driven by desperation and hopelessness to steal and destroy

For those who have lost much

For those who fear to

Pray for God’s kingdom to be ushered in here in Memphis, not to replace what is but to restore it to its intended glory.

Now, as we continue on, May the Fourth be with us J i.e. may the God of all comfort and wisdom guide us to live, work, and speak in accordance with His character and will, that His kingdom may come in fuller measure.