The events surrounding the unnecessary death of a Black Man by the police are devastating our nation. Something should be done, but violence is not the way. I think some people create the violence to steal, to enrich themselves, not because it has a meaning to the wrong that has been done.
I still remember the WATTS riots in Los Angeles. I don't recall what it was over, but I do remember the death of Rodney King, also a travesty. Cameras have changed the ability of law enforcement to commit these kinds of crimes, and that is good. I wish they never even happened.
The ideals of life, the desire for a humanity that is kind and good and caring for each other, is the hope of every generation, and so impossible to find because we are human beings. We make choices that come from our childhoods, from the wrong friends, from relationships at work, home, church, and more. When we grow up, when we get on our own, changing is hard. Getting away from what we knew and finding out that other people are not the way we thought they would be, is not something that happens easily.
When I hear the song so many herald as a message of what we need to become, IMAGINE by John Lennon, I hear a masked allusion to Communism, which never works out the way it was meant to be because of the humans involved. Greed, Power, Ambition, Anger, Hatred, Force, and more, these become the driving need... every good ideal about sharing and equality goes away.
There have been other songs about the themes of change and goodness and sharing... I am trying to remember their words, but I am busy with Minneapolis and Portland and Los Angeles right now.
In talking about how ideals get lost, I often talk about the difference between what the Bible says and what people do... church people... people who haven't really found the secrets of GOD and Christ yet. It is the same problem as with Communism... the good gets lost in the humanity that it is linked to. We try to do right, to be good, to have a better path, but we also fall down, fall away, fall into sin. This is why Christ died for us. To make a way of recovery from out bad choices.
We are able to find GOD's forgiveness, but the effects of our choices never go away.
Today has been a long day at social media. I found a quote post about RICH MULLINS on the effects of divorce on kids... I made a prayer post about that.
I found it at my PRAYERS page at Facebook...
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30 MAY 2020
apx 7:15 pm PST
apx 7:15 pm PST
I know we are in the middle of a terrible situation about being Black in America, but I came across a post with a quote by Rich Mullins on the effects of divorce on children and their ability to cope with life... it moved me to share more words about this... I am putting it here because we underestimate the serious long-term effects of family tragedies like divorce, remarriage, more divorce, remarriage....
I am also posting it with my graphic about choices... which was posted with my original effort...
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This is why divorce is bad...
Kids from a divorce get lost in the future choices of their parents, abandoned for the new family, handicapped in ways they don't understand until they are deep into adulthood, if they understand them at all.
Kids from a divorce get lost in the future choices of their parents, abandoned for the new family, handicapped in ways they don't understand until they are deep into adulthood, if they understand them at all.
The loss of the nuclear family has damaged the world, but we have made it a "right" to be freed of our lifetime commitments.
I always say we take our problems with us, to the next relationship... we just start the process of pain and wanting things to be different all over again.
This post was too long for Twitter... I ended up making my own share of it... I wonder how to make it read by more people, especially young people who haven't felt the pain yet.
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Rich Mullins Quote of the Week
2 hrs ·
Rich Mullins Quote of the Week
2 hrs ·
"One of the very interesting things about divorce is, I was working with a group of young people - there were four of them - and two of them came from split homes, and two of them came from parents that had stayed together and that had honored their commitments..." "The two people, who grew up in an environment where they came to realize that love is not conditional, that someone loves you not because you're worthy of their love, or not because you're cool enough to love; somebody loves you, because it is in them to love - that they are able to accept you, and are able to support you even when you're not doing your, what they think is your best. They were able to make the mistakes, laugh and go on; and finally get things right. The two people that came from a split home, I think since that time - 'cause I've stayed kind of in touch with all of them, and they've worked through some of those insecurities, and they've worked through some of those problems, but it was much harder for them. So I think there's a reason why we were created to be monogamous." -- R. Mullins [1992 Fire by Nite Interview by Blaine Bartel]
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Building a Christian Community is like trying to create a separate BODY OF CHRIST. We are all different. GOD created us for individual "jobs" in the Kingdom. Our differences help us to see problems with different solutions. If we can just find the way to WORK TOGETHER it will benefit all of us.
Building FAMILIES is probably just as hard... I guess it depends on what your foundations are.
Building FRIENDSHIPS, working with people on a job, Customers, people you need something from... it is all about... what? I don't know a good word to bring all those things into one definition.
I haven't found the answers in my own life, but I keep looking. I guess my relationship with GOD and Christ, trying to know the Voice of the Holy Spirit in the life I have, are the main experience I have with TRUST.
I think everyone in our world is fighting a battle we don't see... the hurts of their lives, the problems they face. I hate to admit it, but even those police officers were fighting battles in their hearts and minds before this senseless event happened.
I just hate to be aware of all the wrongs in the world. It is sometimes too much for me. All this information makes our lives a constant turmoil, gives us reasons to fear, turns goodness in our daily life into pain.
I have been sharing the graphic below with a lot of my posts on how our choices affect our lives and others. I am very glad I made it, and have been thinking deep thoughts ever since.
I hope it will make you think about your choices more, too.
In Christ,
Deborah Martin
and more
