The NY Times daily newsletter (The Morning) had a piece in it by John Ismay called, The Weapons of War. It was a sad piece of journalism. (That has nothing to do with the way the article was written and absolutely everything to do with the subject matter). Ismay detailed the bombs, missiles, drones, and systems like The Patriot being used in the conflict/war between the United States and Iran. He identified what the capabilities of each weapon was in terms of its range and destructive power as well as the price and number each nation was thought to have.
What stood out to me was something called, The Joint Direct Attack Munition. It’s your basic low-priced bomb that comes in different sized versions. In short, “It falls down and blows things up” in an economical way. It kills and maims in a way that everyone should be able to afford.
Whatever our Father had in mind when He created humanity—it was not this!!! Whatever it means to be made in His image it does not have to do with developing new and better technologies enabling us to more effectively destroy things and kill people made in His image!!! Is there anything more anti-humanity or dehumanizing than war? It’s the equivalent of amputation ( sometimes necessary but even then, you can only do so much of it). There’s a reason why David didn’t get to build the temple for God—he was a “man of war” (1 Chronicles 28:3 ESV).
But there was other news as well. A story has been in the news cycle about a teacher who was accidentally killed by his students in a prank gone wrong. They had tp’ed his yard and when he came out (he had known about their plans and was excited to catch them in the act), he stumbled and fell into the street as their vehicle passed by and was run over by it. The students tried to administer first aid but there was nothing they or anyone could do to save him. Today’s development on the story was about how his wife had asked the police to dismiss all charges because she didn’t want the tragedy to ruin their lives. To prosecute them, she said, would be counter to her husband’s dedication to investing himself in their lives. Both the teacher and his wife are followers of Christ.
Then there’s this. In a class I taught at church not long ago, there were among others, some young adults. Two of them were married and had a pre-school aged daughter. Janice and I got to know them a bit. (She even baked a loaf of sourdough bread for me to thank me for teaching the class which as you’ll see, says more about her than my teaching). Anyway, she wasn’t at assembly one Sunday and my wife inquired about her. Her husband told her she was in Texas recuperating from surgery. On a prior trip to Texas, she had seen a billboard put up by someone in need of a kidney. She had written the number down, called, been tested, found to be compatible, and that’s the surgery she was recuperating from! They were no special announcements or accolades made about them—just the spirit of Jesus present in their lives in a powerful way.
Yes, there are people who because of their love for the Lord, choose to live like this and we praise God for them! What the rest of us are teaching (and writing) about, they’re actually doing. And they inspire us to do more.
But more than that, in a world of death and destruction, they stand for hope, life, and love. God gives us the chance to choose what we will stand for. Have you made your choice?
The world is waiting (and watching).
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 