Be The One

Tonight I sat on my teenage son’s bed, fighting back tears as he asked me if I thought he would ever get shot at school. It was the first time I’ve seen real fear on his face—fear born from the stark realization that life-altering, life-ending violence can happen anywhere. And I hate it. I hate not being able to tell my son with 100% confidence that violence, evil, or the effects of brokenness will never touch him or those we love. I hate it. I hate it so much it makes me physically ill. I despise the mess our world is in. I want nothing more than to make it better. I want to tell my son he and his sister are safe. That they can grow up in a safe and stable world. A world where goodness and kindness reign.

But sadly that is not our world.

For we live in a broken world, a hurting world. A world tainted by evil—marred by sin.

A world full of wounded people, shattered people, confused people. A people capable of great acts of violence—violence born from violence.

And we as a culture are left to cry out in fear and anguish—mourning one senseless loss while dreading the next. For we know the next is always coming.

We lament and ponder. We accuse and blame. We draft laws and memos. We train and we equip. But nothing changes. Why?

God, why???

It’s because the change we need—the change we truly need—cannot be legislated or mandated, instituted nor decreed.

It is because the change our society needs cannot come from politicians or platforms but from people just like you and me.

It is because the only way we are going to ever put a stop to the senseless violence destroying our schools, is by radical acts of love and kindness.

I am just one person—and an introverted scaredy-cat one at that—but if I am one person willing to show love, compassion and kindness to one other person, than I can affect a larger change.

For what if, just what if, I reach a person who, later in life, could be capable of deadly violence? What if I (one ordinary nobody) interrupts another’s life with light? What if I plant a seed of hope into the life of another? And what if that seed grows large enough to push out the seed of violence, planted earlier by an experience with trauma or hurt? Wouldn’t it stand to reason then that one seed, planted by one regular person, could potentially spare the life of another—possibly of many others? Thereby bringing much from the one?

Could it really be as simple as that?

Maybe not, probably not, but for the sake of our kids, for the sake of my kids, I am sure willing to try!

I might be naive—it wouldn’t be the first time—but here’s the thing: I can’t make a law. And I can’t enforce a law. And I can’t even change a law. But I can change a live. And maybe that’s even better. Because one live changed could mean many lives saved. And that is reason enough for me to be willing to be the one. To reach the one. To save the one.

Platforms are great, pulpits are needed, policies are warranted, but ultimately people need people.

These kids need someone—even just one person—to see them, to hear them, to show them another way—a better way. These kids, both those inflicting pain and those bearing pain, are victims of the broken world in which we live. And it’s a mess. A giant mess. And when we look at it as a whole it’s overwhelming—too far gone to save.

But when you look at just one child—step into just one life—suddenly it all seems a little more doable.

And so tonight, right now, will you make a commitment with me to be the one? It will probably get messy, be hard, and feel awkward and uncomfortable, but what if—just what if—God uses us to stop one more act of violence? What if each one of us who feels inadequate and unqualified simply asks God to, “Show me who to love today” and then we do it? What if we live out the radical love of Jesus in this broken, hurting and hungry world?

Could we maybe—just maybe—change someone’s world? And in the process affect real change—lasting change—one hurting heart at a time?

If nothing else, maybe it’s at least worth a thought….

Much love,

Jen

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