Scott Freeman

When I started writing on this site I made a silent agreement with myself:
No politics.
It’s just too messy and all I will do is fire people up when there are others more qualified than myself to deal with sticky hot-button issues of the day.
I’m not sure how much longer I can keep that agreement.
The way it is shaping up only for about another sentence or two.
For my heart is breaking. And I feel that we are repeating the same mistakes of the past.
In 1994 the African nation of Rwanda lost over 800,000 people due to tribal fighting.
America did nothing.
I was 26 years old and knew next to nothing about what was taking place on the other side of the world.
When I did learn of the atrocities I brushed it off as not my problem.
“We can’t bail out the entire world.”
“Let’s offer a hand-up and not a hand-out”
And precious souls, the least of these, found themselves abandoned and broken on the unforgiving wheels of living.
In 1998 Bill Clinton went to Rwanda and apologized for our blindness:
We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not
have allowed the refugee camps to become safe havens for the killers.
We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name:
genocide. We cannot change the past. But we can and must do everything
in our power to help you build a future without fear, and full of
hope…. We owe to all the people in the world our best efforts to
organize ourselves so that we can maximize the chances of preventing
these events. And where they cannot be prevented, we can move more
quickly to minimize the horror.

Although no excuse exists for not intervening, the pledge to be more vigilant in the future is the least that we can do.
Yesterday, after a 6 month silence on the issue, President Bush acknowledged that there is genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.
400,000 people are dead.
2.5 million people are without homes.
Now we must make sure that we stand up. That our government is not once again silent to genocide in a nation that has no money to give us, no precious resources that we covet.
We must make sure that this time we value human life not just what human life can give us.
This is not a Republican issue.
This is not a Democrat issue.
The blame does not go solely to Bill Clinton for our un-involvement in Rwanda.
The blame will not go solely to George W. Bush for our un-involvement in Darfur.
We must stand up and make our voices heard.
For this is a Christian issue.
It smacks at the heart of who we are called to be.
To be hope for the hopeless.
Provide homes for the homeless.
Salvation for the lost and downtrodden.
And a voice for those whose voices have been muted by the cacophony of war.

I am ashamed that I have been so silent in my cries for social justice.
That I have been content to live a prosperous life while others struggle for survival.
That I have relegated to the government the work of developing a heart for those in need.

I don’t know where I got the idea that dropping a tithe in the collection basket was giving enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that preaching as a career was service enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that loving my family was loving enough.
I don’t know where I got the idea that it was solely the responsibility of Washington D.C. to tend to the needs of others.

I do know that I did not get this ideas from Jesus.
I did not get these ideas from the example that He set.
He loved people. He gave all of Himself.
I must endeavor to do the same.
Will you? Go to Sojourners and Darfur Genocide to learn more.
Together we can make a difference.
Thank you for listening to me.
Now back to the regularly scheduled stuff.

I ate lunch today at Whataburger. I know I shouldn’t have.
I can feel my arteries clog as we speak.
But I love it so.
Anyway, there was a mother there with two small boys, probably 6 and 4 years of age. These little guys were running wild.
Who needs a play-land when you have free run of the dining establishment?
5 years ago I would have been aghast at this woman letting her little minions whopping it up and lowering the property value.
But now, I looked at her somewhat haggard and wearied posture. Keeping those boys in line is probably a full-time job for her.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, I fully believe she should have gotten her children under control. Children need discipline and in this case they weren’t getting it.
But I am much more sympathetic now to her plight than I once was.
5 years ago I would have muttered something to the effect of “yank those little snot-noses up and make them be quiet.”
Today I empathized with the constant need for vigilance that this woman faces.
5 years ago I would shake my head at parents who would take their children out with dirty clothes and crusty faces.
Today I understand that toddler bodies possess a gravitational force of their own for dirt, ketchup and drainage.
Again, don’t misunderstand me, I believe that permissive parenting is not truly parenting and that too many mothers and fathers today have abdicated their responsibility to raise their children with discipline.
The point is that I sympathize with their plight and my prayers are with them that they might seek the full reliance on God to fulfill their parental responsibilities.
I need to do a better job of that in every facet of life.
I need to judge less and pray more.
I need to look down on others less and lift them up more.
I need to criticize less and encourage more.
We, as Christians, can be awfully quick to look down on others (unfortunately, I am not above reproach here). I’ve seen us do it many times. For example:

• We railed against Bill Clinton’s White House infidelity and failed to pray for a family in crisis.
• I sat and listened to a prominent church preacher lambast “Ellen Degenerate” during her coming-out episodes with no mention of the preciousness of her soul. That came home to me a few nights later at a singles retreat as I sat up late into the night with a tortured young man wrestling with his own homosexuality.
• We protest abortion (rightly so) and fail to consider the plights of young girls who find themselves in trouble.

My fear is that we can be perceived as unloving to people who need our love the most.
That we can be considered to be callous when a gentle touch is needed.
That we turn people away by our piety when they need our brokenness.
That our rhetoric supersedes compassion.
And that our desire to denounce sin overwhelms our desire to change lives.

The mother at Whataburger needs to control her children. But she also needs grace. She needs an understanding smile and an offer of encouragement.
The person lost in sin needs to repent and get their lives right with God.
But they also need to find in us a place to find forgiveness.
A place of refuge from the hurts of the world.
A look of understanding that sin is consuming.
A look of sympathy and an offer of hope.

If we become Jesus to the world, what can we accomplish?
We can offer hope to the hopeless.
Salvation to the lost.
Forgiveness to the unforgiven.
Love to the unloved.
A Home for the homeless.
We don’t have to change our position on sin. Sin is sin and it always will be.
But we can change our heart toward those struggling with sin.
We can be more understanding.
We can love the sinner.
Isn’t that what Jesus did with us?

If you are anything like me you could not take your eyes off the coverage this weekend of Jennifer Wilbanks.
Selfishly, she decided she was unprepared to deal with the uncertainty surrounding her pending nuptials, grabbed her MP3 player and didn’t stop until she hit the Duke City. (Beautiful place, by the way, I used to live there.)
Rather than own up to her misgivings she ducked out of town.
Under the guise of her daily run she ran away.
Walked away from responsibility.
Turned her back on family and the groom who loves her.
Allowed the specter of murder to fall on the one prepared to have and hold her for life.
When the money was gone the enormity of her actions set in.
Did she call home and confess her acts?
No. She lied.
She made up a story blaming her disappearance upon others who “kidnapped” her.
Rather than taking responsibility she sought to repaint herself as a victim.
But this fabrication was too flimsy to stand, a house of lies built on sand.
People are now outraged. Understandably so.
How could she do such a thing?
How selfish can one person be?
How can someone put someone who loves them so dearly through such agony?

Makes me stop and think about the cross.
Jesus refers to Himself in the Gospels as a bridegroom, passionately in love with his bride, the church.
As part of that church, I shudder at the times I have jilted Him.
At the times I run away into a future of my own ill-prepared design.
You see, I too, have been a runaway bride.
Too often when I have recognized my folly I have sought to cover it up.
Haven’t we all?

• Rather than admitting sin, we redefine it as a mistake, an addiction, or a lifestyle choice.
• Rather than taking responsibility we blame our actions on someone else.
• Rather than relishing the immense love He holds for us we embrace a “self-love” that just leaves us broke, dazed and confused at 7-11.

God should have nothing to do with us for our penchant to flee.
He should leave us clutching that pay-phone listening to the steady drone of a dial-tone.

They are deciding now whether or not to prosecute her and sue her for the cost of the search.

But get this.
Are you ready?
You won’t believe it.

Her fiancee still wants to marry her!

Is he a fool? Maybe.
Could he find someone to love him better? Probably.
Does he love her? Obviously.

Again, just like Jesus.
Even though we run from Him. He still waits.
He still longs for that relationship with us.
And when we find ourselves broke, alone and confused He still waits.
At the end of the old dirt road.
For the prodigal.
For the runaway bride.
To come home to Him.

I a little more sympathetic to Jennifer Wilbanks now.
That’s my story too.
Praise Jesus He still loves me.
Praise God He still lets me come home when I run away.
That’s Amazing Grace.