To give a brief explanation of how we got into the situation, the girls on my team had gone to the Luvuyo orphanage for a meeting of sorts with the head of the place. Ended up postponing it to tomorrow so we thought while we’re out we might as well evangelize. But before that I wanted to play on the huge slide at the playground right next to the orphanage, that is were we were signaled by a group of men under the shade of a tree in the corner of the playground. Taylor and I brushed them off until one came up to us and insisted that we be friends. We say ok and walk towards the group playing a board game of sorts. We all introduced ourselves and got into conversation. Through asking what they want to pursue ,job wise, we found out they are apart of a gang.
Ok so now that I have brief explanation of how I met them I really wanted to write this because I really don’t know what happened.
From the moment they said hi to us from across the playground I had a feeling I’ve never experienced before. It lingered on and got more intense when I heard they’re gang members who have done things I don’t want to repeat here.
I feel as though I received clarity as we were walking back home, key word here clarity because I believe God gave me this insight as a gift.
I received this revelation while greeting and being my normal friendly self to all the people I see while walking down the streets heading home.
Realizing how I’m acting to these people. I never noticed it before because that is “just what I do.”
How untrue.
Coming to the realization that I had treated the men I had just met based on ‘who they are’, gang members.
Who am I to treat someone based on their actions.
I’m a sinner and to be honest I was a pathological liar for the majority of my life. Hurting people left and right and to put a name tag of what these young men have done as if it is who they are yet not put one on me too just doesn’t make much sense, does it?
Jez I’ve sat just thinking about this day a whole lot. Thinking about how the world would be if the world was “fair” with hypocrisy. It kind of reminds me of the debates of sorts I’ve had in Haiti about tattoos. They always seem to bring up Leviticus 19:28 “do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.” But fail to mention Leviticus 19:18 “do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone… do not plant your field with two kinds of seeds.. do not wear clothing woven if two kinds of material… do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Not to mention the countless amounts of sacrifices you have to do for anything/everything.
It reminds me of my thoughts of the gang; just like the old commandments I can’t pick and choose which ones to follow or even choose ones to condemn others with not to mention not even myself following all of them.
Sin is sin. God is light. Sin is dark. So God which is light sees all sin as darkness. How can a darkness (sin) be darker than another darkness(sin). It’s all the same to Him, lying is darkness just as murder is darkness.
I had a conversation the other week with someone at home bluntly talking about us Christians are the most judgmental people in the world because we know what is right so when we see someone doing what is not right, it is so much easier for us to point out faults in them then in us.
Crazy.
Hypocrisy is the stickiest ________________(think of the stickiest thing you’ve ever touched and times it by 10) the world. Crazy that hypocrisy doesn’t discriminate, isn’t exclusive, grabes on to anyone and everyone. It’s kinda scary but then again the Bible says “don’t be afraid” 365 times. It is very much so a command and we once again we cannot pick and choose which commands are good enough to follow.
Many people I talk to see the religious people in their lives and think that that is what being a Christian is like and because of that perception they say they want nothing to do with Jesus because of what they think He does to people. So sad how false that is.
Sometimes I wish there was a different name to differentiate the people who are in love with religion and the people who actually follow Jesus. But then again I know He is in the ministry of reconciliation.
I truly believe the only thing to do if you’re fed up with really anything bad in the world is to not keep being pissed at how everyone’s doing everything so wrong and wait for someone to do something about it but instead we must be the change.
I believe this with all my heart but that doesn’t mean I have this mindset all the time.
To address the concern of hanging out with gang members, this book explained something I couldn’t have put better in words and still inspires me.
“Matthew 10:16
“I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves”. Why in the world was Jesus, the good shepherd (John 10:11), the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20), telling his sheep to hang out with wolves??
Jesus was saying to his disciples then- and, by implication, to you and me now- “i am sending you to dangerous places, where you will find yourselves in the middle of evil, vicious people. And you will be there by my design.” Jesus told them, ” go to great danger, and let it be said of you what people would say of sheep wandering into the middle of wolves. ‘They’re crazy! They’re clueless! They have no idea what kind of danger they are getting into!’ This is what it means to be my disciple.”
We don’t think like this. We say things such as,”The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.” We think, if it’s dangerous, God must not be in it. If it is risky, if it is unsafe, if it’s costly, it must not be God’s will. But what if these factors are actually the criteria by which we determine something is God’s will? What if we began to look at the design of God as the most dangerous option before us?
In the unavoidable conclusion of Matthew 10, to everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus. The danger of our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.” – Radical by David Platt 10/10 highly recommend
Here’s 2 of the 5 men in the gang that I got the privilege to meet at the park. Seeing his smile makes me smile every time.
I think I write this only to be accountable to myself to not fall into a pit of despair when I feel like the only one or when I know I’ve failed to act like Jesus and most of the times it’s both.
Well I think that’s all I got. Thanks for taking time to read this, even if you just read the beginning, still grateful 🙂
