Potential Powder Keg

Things seem about to explode in the United States. Everywhere you look there is crisis. The racial divide appears at an all time high in my lifetime. Any day it seems it could revert back to the race riots and segregation of the sixties and seventies. People are angry on both sides. The racial divides are being drawn in the sand and nobody is budging. Fingers are pointed and rhetoric is espoused.

The anger has already spilled over into violence on local levels. It all feels like a boiling cauldron of hate about to bubble over. People are hated and judged just because of the color of their skin. Behind the scenes radicals are fanning the flames of hatred to a feverish pitch. How long before the powder keg blows and violence and bloodshed fills the streets.

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. A dream for racial equality he championed and ultimately died for. It seems we are further from that dream now than ever. People are still judged by the color of their skin and not the content of their character. I don't understand.

My best friend in 5th grade was a black guy named Dennis. We spent time in each other's homes. One of my childhood football teammates,  and my best friend on the team, was a black guy named Jerome. He was the quarterback all the way through high school and I loved blocking for him. I loved him. Two other black guys came and ate dinner in my house named Antonio and Jerry. I was also friends with James.In addition, I worked on the newspaper staff with a black guy named Dwayne. All African American. We had several classes together and spent time hanging together outside of school.

Those guys were my friends. The color of our skin did not matter. We were just people. Jesus loves people of all skin color. His family is big enough to include all shades of skin. My wife is part hispanic but I never saw that. I only saw her heart and her beauty. Outwardly and inwardly. She loved and still loves Jesus. Eventually she loved me too. That was enough.

As Jesus followers we are supposed to love people. I realize some minorities have been mistreated and they carry resentment and anger. I wish slavery and civil injustice and segregation never happened. They did. I wish the Native Americans were not lied to and mistreated. I wish Hispanics were valued for their strong family values and work ethics instead of being called names. All of those negative things did  and do happen. As followers of Jesus we are supposed to love and forgive. It's that simple.

In a culture of love and forgiveness hatred could deescalate. Tempers could calm. Forgiveness could supplant bitterness. Hugs and handshakes could replace guns and knives. The gospel could transform one life after another. Maybe that sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds like revival to me and I will devote my life, prayers and passion to seeing that reality. May this potential powder keg never explode because God calls this nation to repentance and salvation in a massive spiritual awakening.