Thursday, October 15, 2015

When Will the Shootings Stop?

Another shooting in the last few weeks.......as well as dozens of individuals who are shot every day. When will it stop?

I would like to challenge everyone who is reading this today to stop and read the blog post below. A chaplain friend of mine shared it this morning and he works at a major hospital in where gun shot wounds are a daily occurrence. This post reminded me that many people DO get to a very desperate point in their lives and do things that maybe they would never do if they weren't so desperately lonely. God created us for relationship. Psychologists and clergy agree that loneliness and despair can drive a human to do things that they never thought they would do.....sometimes doing something "spectacular" to "make" others hear them(us). Some of us do things that are socially acceptable and others are to the point of despair that they do things that hurt others.

Read this and take the challenge today. Reach out to someone. Acknowledge that they are real and beautiful and created with a purpose in mind. TODAY....in Montgomery, reach out. Be Jesus to someone who you see who looks lonely or sad. It MAY just make a difference.

I like this passage in Romans 17:7-10 in the Message. It speaks to rejoicing in "rounding up" those who are on the "outside".

"So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God's purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance: Then I'll join outsiders in a hymn-sing; I'll sing to your name! And this one: Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!"

Read this prayerfully......