Blind To The Raging Fires
The NY POST reports:
Diners at a French cafe could be seen casually enjoying a glass of wine next to a flaming pyre of garbage amid riots against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform.
The viral video, posted on TikTok, shows the outdoor seating area at the Place de la Victoire, in Bordeaux, where rioters set fire to the roads on Thursday, the most violent day of the protests. … Throughout the video, the fire could be seen flaring up at times and sending embers flying up high, but the diners remained unfazed.
What a picture of our world today. Our culture and society are burning down around us in every corner of the globe. Political unrest. Cultural unrest. Religious unrest. Economic unrest. You name it.
Click here to watch the video.
With so much chaos raging, we run the very real risk of becoming desensitized to it -- desensitized to the needs and the questions and the concerns of those caught up in the rage. We can become so desensitized to it that we hardly respond to it anymore.
As the church, and as individual members of it, let us guard our hearts and ask the Lord to open our eyes and remove our blinders to the chaos raging all around us — the needs and the emptiness and turmoil raging all around us.
Times of great chaos can be times of great revival.
We are called to “understand the present time” knowing this, “The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11, NIV).
Let’s not squander the richness of this moment.
Chicago and Baltimore Flair With Violence Over Memorial Day
“Memorial Day weekend was a violent one in Chicago,” reports NEWSWEEK Magazine, “where at least 56 people were shot and a dozen people died in shootings.”
The weekend was likewise exceedingly deadly in Baltimore where 29 were shot, 9 of them fatally.
One Chicago resident downplayed the violence, saying the media makes it all sound worse than it is, and the situation is not as dire as it seems. “We know that this happens in very large metropolitan areas. Chicago is no different than what’s going on in Baltimore, Philly or Detroit,” said Asiaha Butler, president of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, the Chicago neighborhood where at least three of the shootings are reported to have happened. “I stayed on my porch this entire weekend. I barbequed this weekend. I did not hear one gunshot.”
Not as dire as it seems? Really?
In a culture and society where anger and conflict are increasingly solved by the pull of a trigger, it seems familiarity is not breeding contempt but rather complacency. This is what sin does—over time, it dulls our senses and callouses our hearts.
God forbid we get used to such staggering displays of man’s anger run amuck. In God’s economy, to even think angrily against another constitutes murder, and it is every bit as “dire as it seems.”
“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22, NLT).
Step Out of the Waiting Places
An education blogger recently posted a very poignant lesson learned from, none other than, the eternally wise Dr. Seuss:
Sure, he wrote “kids books”, but I never doubt for a moment the lessons his books can teach us adults as well. Dr. Seuss urges kids (and all of us) to stay out of the waiting place…
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
once more you’ll ride high!
AJ Juliani is founder and chief-editor of Education Is My Life and The Best & Next in Education. He currently work as an Education and Technology Innovation Specialist.
Julian observes that it takes a combination of great curiosity AND great courage to step out of the “waiting” places and into the realm of unknown possibilities and opportunities. Indeed, fear and complacency can be equally paralyzing.
One can go through life waiting for opportunities to come their way…but chances are slim that they will unless you go out and grab them yourself. Now I try to live my life with courage, looking for opportunities and giving myself time to be curious. … Don’t let yourself stay in that waiting place. Be curious. Be courageous.
“He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus” (Mathew 14:29).
“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:6, NLT).
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT).