The Unrest In Baltimore

This morning, as I sat in the local coffee shop with a éclair and a café mocha I was assaulted by the TV behind me. The big news was the rioting in Baltimore. Some were blaming police brutality as the cause of the rioting. Others were blaming the black mayor and a black President for the rioting because they encourage black people to use force. Still others faulted the communities in which they grew up as the reason for the rioting; it was because they lived in the ghetto and didn’t have two parent families. The problem is much deeper than ANY of the factors mentioned. First, I have a feeling that none of us know the whole story. We know the story that the media has painted FOR us. We see the picture they WANT us to see. Second, any one or all of these factors may have contributed to the problem. As I was listening to these people pointing fingers and blaming each other for the problems in Baltimore; My heart was heavy.
The bigger problem is a heart problem … a God problem.
As I look as the unrest in Baltimore, I see what happens when we set God aside. See, when we cast God aside, chaos reigns. I see people bent on blaming others with no intention of taking any responsibility for their actions. The blame game is not new either. Adam and Eve did it first in The Garden of Eden. To be honest, It doesn’t truly matter who is to blame. I see people who need God to transform them. Until God changes them, one person at a time, their society cannot and will not change. As I look around me, I realize that my community is not that much different. My city needs God also.
But, our cities can’t change until we change… until I change.
As I left the café, I left with a renewed spirit to live my life in such a way that others want what I have. To pray for those in Baltimore, that are affected by the rioting. Many are likely innocent bystanders who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. But also pray for those in my town. To pray that I will offer a choice, hope, to those around me.

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