Hope

   This has been a long week. There is so much pain and disappointment in the world right now. Many of us have questions about why things happen and how we got to this point. It kind of feels like someone is rewinding a tape in slow motion and we’re watching a familiar story play out. Did we really overcome? With all of the awareness, education, opportunities, and modern technology, we’re still in the same place. To face the reality that many people still look at a race of people as less than human is deplorable. To know that our hunger for education and our desire to live a good life and provide an even better life for our children is being snatched from us without consequence or remorse is unacceptable. Has the world forgotten that we have inalienable rights that will not go unrecognized? The insensitivity that has been shown by some people is tragic. The bottom line is race is not the only way a person can face discrimination. We need to recognize that something like this can happen to anybody. Nobody is exempt. There are young men that are ready to put their freedom, and future on the line to make sure something is done. They are hopeless. These young men feel like their lives are worth nothing. When you are made to feel invisible in a world infected with obscured hate, unrest is inevitable. This is not just a Ferguson, Missouri problem. This is a nationwide problem. Racism is not dead! We now face the offspring of the same people that perpetuated hate several years ago.  My hope is that all of the efforts don’t go unnoticed. I also hope that an entire generation is not destroyed because they now realize that this world is not the nice place that we tried to make them believe it is. I hope that we don’t have to bury anymore of our children because of senseless accounts of bad judgment. I hope that we all take the blinders off and recognize that money, prestige, and popularity will not change a person’s opinion of you when they have been taught to hate all of their lives. I hope that self-love and love for others is not tainted in our hearts. I hope that things will change so that at least our grandchildren will never have to fight the same battles that we are still fighting today. I hope that we can still find the strength to hold our heads up high and strive for excellence in everything that we do. I hope that HOPE is not dead and we still believe that God is sovereign and none of these lives were taken in vain.  I just learned today, two weeks before Michael Brown was murdered, he gave his life to Christ. If this is the case, his precious life has been used as a catalyst for change and he deserves to be honored. I know many of us are angry and retaliation seems like the only recourse, but today I hope that we will channel our energy and effort in the direction of love and positivity to make things better. I hope that we will not stoop to the level of ignorance that we’ve seen over the past few days. I do not have the answers. Honestly, I have many of the same questions as everyone else, but I pray that we all keep striving to make our lives better and create a safer environment for everyone. Please stay safe, keep praying and NEVER, EVER GIVE UP HOPE!!!!!

Hebrews 11:1-Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.