"Welcoming the Foreigner"

The other day I was playing sand volleyball at one of the only sand volleyball courts in Twin Falls. Soon a group of refugees showed up, and when we were done playing for a bit, they took the court. Eventually, we were ready to play again and asked if we could join them. They politely let us join in. They didn’t speak much English, but they knew the game, they understood the rules, and they simply enjoyed playing. After awhile, an officer came around the corner on patrol. That moment is when the refugees packed up their stuff and left the park. A little later, the officer pulled up to someone from our group and asked if the refugee men had been “disrespecting” women, because someone had called in claiming this was an incident that had taken place at the park that night. We told the officer that as far as we knew, there hadn’t been any problems, and the officer figured that much but had to check it out anyways.

Personally, I never once felt disrespected. It was a fun game, with friendly competition… two groups of different people, from different places, with different cultures, doing nothing more than playing a game of volleyball. I don’t know who made the phone call in an attempt to get the refugees kicked out of the park, if it was a neighbor to the park, or someone watching from afar, but I believe it was very uncalled for and unfair. The fact that the refugees quickly scattered when the police officer arrived, makes me believe that this wasn’t the first time they have been treated this way. Don’t misunderstand me, it isn’t the police officer’s fault, he was doing his job and responding to a phone call the way he should. But, why would someone call in to report a “problem” that wasn’t a problem?

There is too much judgment and hate in our world today. Even something as small as this, is the hate that seems to be tearing our world apart. 

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)

God loves the foreigners among us. It shouldn’t matter where they are from, what the color of their skin is, how they talk, what they believe, how they act, or anything else. God simply loves the foreigners. Why can’t we love the foreigners in our communities? Why can’t we put our differences aside and love purely because we all are foreigners here in some way? When you see any unkindness, or unfairness taking place: do something about it. And I don’t mean to go get revenge or harm others out of anger, but instead to stand up for the refugees. Stand up for the people being mistreated for no good reason at all. Show them respect. Make them feel welcome. Treat the foreigners as if they were native-born here. ALL are welcome into the family of Christ, and it isn’t our job to decide otherwise.

What next?

After the Dallas shooting, an executive order was made for the flag to be lowered to half-mast in honor of those who had lost their lives. There is a flag pole in the front yard at my house, so every time I step outside or look out the window I can see the American flag lowered. It seems like our flag has been at half-mast quite a lot lately. After the Dallas tragedy before the flag was even supposed to be raised back up to normal height again, the attack in France took place, and executive orders were once again made for the flag to be lowered. Then, another shooting took place in Baton Rouge.

This is the chaos that our world has collapsed into: 

We go from one American flag at half-mast to another...one senseless tragedy to another. 

How long will our American flag sit at half-mast?

I think the hearts of many people in our nation may feel the same way. Many are afraid, and worried about the future of our nation and the heartbreaking events occurring all around the world. 

But hear me out: somewhere in the depths of the darkness there is hope. 

Although there are times when I can't help but wonder what heartbreaking news I will hear next, there is a place for hope.

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38-39 

There is no hate, no crime, no tragedy, no shootings, no violence, and no evil that will ever stop God's love from reaching the world. When we wonder if God is going to intervene with all these horrific incidents, I truly believe in a big way He already has. He created you and me. He made us, and gave us the ability and potential to love and share peace. It's not enough to feel bad about the tragic events taking place in our world. Pray. Love. Be kind to the people that don't deserve it. Serve others. Put the needs of other people before yourself. Spread the gospel of Jesus, because it's more urgent now more than ever to share the reason for the hope we have in Him. 

Grace can be seen even in the midst of these worldly disasters. It is seen through people. It is seen through the broken lives reaching out to other broken lives. It is seen through people gathering to pray. It is seen through one hand reaching out to another hand. It is seen through people loving people. So even if our flag may be resting at half-mast, or even if it may be raised only to be lowered yet again, in the middle of this darkness, the grace of God gives us an everlasting hope to hold on to. Don’t lose it, because it is so critical right now for our hope to be spread out into the aching hearts in our world.

So what's next? Will you wait for the next tragedy to take place? Or will you act now? Start sharing the hope that God has given you...Now. There isn't time to waste. 

If Only

           

            I had a conversation with my sister the other day about people changing after high school and when they go off to college. In the midst of the conversation, my sister explained to me that the only way I changed when I left college was that now I am more emotional and I cry a lot more. I jokingly responded, “Well, that’s what college does to you.” But, in all reality, she’s right. I’ve always been someone that thinks things through, A LOT. Part of that, means I always really listen to the lyrics of songs. Most of my favorite songs aren’t my favorite because I like the sound necessarily, but because of the lyrics. I almost always think about the meaning, the emotion, and the message behind the lyrics of a song.

With that being said, I’ve been listening to this Switchfoot song on repeat for the last couple days.

“If you could only let your guard down

You could learn to trust me somehow

I swear, that I won’t let you go

If only you could let go your doubts

If you could just believe in me now

I swear, that I won’t let you go

I won’t let you go”

                        -Switchfoot, “I Won’t Let You Go”

The first time I heard it, I got quite the image of God in my head. As I said before, I actually do cry a lot more now. So, I won’t lie… When I heard this song I cried. I cried because the picture and the meaning I saw behind the song broke my heart. I imagined God, reaching out His hand for me, crying out desperately for me to just trust Him, to just stop doubting, and just believe that He really is the God who the Bible says He is…. He cried out, while I walked away.

What keeps me away from God is my lack of trust, and the overwhelming amount of doubt in my heart. 2015 and 2016 have been quite crazy years…and it didn’t stop this summer. I have seen so much pain, so much hurt, and so much tragedy just in the last few months that I will NEVER really understand. I don’t understand all the violence, and shootings, and hate going on in the world. I don’t always get why Jesus just doesn’t step in. It really makes me question. I start to think about questions I normally try and avoid…questions like, “If God is a good God like He says He is, why is this happening? Why did He let that happen? How does a good God allow people to hurt like this?”

Unfortunately, it is often these questions and these doubts that build the distance between mankind and God. That’s why this song made me cry, because when God is pursuing my heart, I run away. I run away not because of anything God has done, but because of my own thoughts, doubts, and lack of trust. You can’t build a relationship without trust. God just wants me to trust Him. He wants me to trust that even if I will NEVER understand what He is doing, He is good…And He is who the Bible says He is.

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” -Matthew 13:45-46

We are those pearls. We are worth great value, and God is constantly seeking to find a way into our hearts. I used to think it was strange that people would sometimes call God’s relationship to mankind a love story. But I get it now… Because it is a love story. It is the greatest love story ever written… And it’s not fiction, it’s real life. God sees value, He sees worth, He loves unconditionally, and He continuously seeks after us, regardless of how much we run.

So, my simple encouragement for you this week is this: Don’t ignore the love song God is singing to you... Don’t ignore His cry for you to just trust Him, and believe in Him. Because you can’t fully experience God’s holding hands, if you don’t fully let yourself trust in Him. God won’t let you go, but the only way you can really find that out to be true is to stop holding yourself up, to stop doubting who God is, and to trust that in all circumstances, even the unexplainable, God has been holding you all along and He isn’t leaving now.

If only we could really learn to trust God, maybe then we would start to understand who He is.