Reach Back

The car was now empty... police tape surrounded it. A 70 year old lady (owner of the car) and the McDonald's manager that rescued her were both now in Vanderbilt Hospital ER.
A man tried to grab the purse of the 70 year old lady and ended up stabbing her. The manager saw the crime and ran out to rescue the lady. A scuffle in the parking lot led to the stabbing of the manager...but not before the manager managed to hit the back glass out of the suspect's pickup truck.
Another customer at the McDonald's jumped into his truck and followed the suspect down Nolensville road. The suspect crashed and then ran across the street to a pet store. The suspect car-jacked a van, and in the process, stabbed the driver. The McDonald's "good Samaritan" tried to block the suspect in the pet store parking lot...but got rammed out of the way. Suspect gone - 3 people stabbed - 3 cars trashed - 3 crime scenes. That was my Saturday.
I stop and think about what is going on in this world. Why so much crime, war, violence, etc. And I do realize we live in a fallen world. This is not what God wanted, but alas, he gave us all free will. We have a choice weather or not to love God...if we were forced to love Him, it would not be real love...would it. And so evil runs rampant. I'm not saying all humans are evil, I'm just saying we have a choice about who we listen to. God or the devil. Paul (wrote most of the New Testament) spent the first part of his life killing Christians! Then on the road to Damascus...he met Jesus. Paul was a changed man.
Paul replaced his violence and hate with a love and zeal for Christ that was amazing. The amazing thing? Paul became free...even in the midst of a world full of people that hated Christians and loved violence. Paul became free from his past...he accepted Christ ...and God washed away his past...and gave him an eternal...glorious...future.

So while witnessing all the violence in the world today first hand, it gets really easy for me to start thinking hateful thoughts about the people that commit the crimes. Paul's example, however, makes me stop and think. I need to pray for the people that cause this hurt...and hope that in the future, they may have an experince with Jesus. Most of us spend our lives running from God, but when we get tired of running...He is there to hold us up...then you wonder why you were running in the first place. He loves us all (not all our actions...but he loves US)...and we need to love everyone as well.
I DO hate the evil, but I realize that I am no better than the guy that did the stabbing. The only difference is that I let Christ into my life ...and I identify myself with Jesus. The only reason I am saved is that Jesus reached down and pulled me out of the mess. My heart has been born again, and I continue to have hope that criminals will stop listening to the devil and let Jesus pull them out of the darkness. So in a dying society, I have comfort in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. That whosoever beleives in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God is reaching out to all of us...we just need to reach back.
In His Grip,
Cam