I’ve really been wrestling with the issue of injustice for a while now. In fact, I would say the majority of the time that I have been here in South Florida. Dave (the pastor at my home church, Grace) is going through a sermon on this as well. I haven’t listened to the sermons yet, but I fully intend to do so. You can check them out here.

Injustice is a big and complicated beast. It is a system. It is a series of beliefs. It is assumptions. It is short sightedness. It is selfishness. It is greed. It is arrogance. It is a variety of things that weave together to manifest itself into injustice.

The poor. The hungry. The homeless. The destitute. I can conjure up a thousand words to describe the effects of social injustice, but you probably already have a good understanding of it. What are we, personally, doing to combat it? What am I doing to combat it?

In my personal life, I’m struggling to find ways to reach out to the poor, to those in need. I don’t want to go out and fix their problems. As noted in my post about listening, people are not problems to be fixed. They are people to be loved. So how does that translate for me? I’m involved with youth, which I love and believe is my ministry (at least for this part of my life. And I hope for the rest of my life). But that doesn’t give me an automatic pass from helping those that are less fortunate.

Grace has several ministries that work with the needy, and I think I would like to get involved with one or two of them. I can definitely give money or food to things, and that’s something I want to do. But I also want to give some of my time to these organizations.

The Bible is chock full of examples of how to serve or commands to give. Those of us that are blessed financially and materially should share with those that aren’t blessed in that same fashion. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy what we have, but that’s an entirely different post.

The world can be an ugly place for many people. We can add to the problem. We can do nothing. Or we can be the hands and feet of Christ.

So I just got back from running. Troy and I are getting ready to do some grilling. Troy moved the charcoal and out shot a scorpion. Neither of us have ever had to deal with a scorpion, so it was a pretty hilarious incident.

I grabbed the Raid and handed it to Troy. He sprayed the crap out of that guy and eventually it stopped crawling and just laid there twitching. Needless to say, we didn’t feel like the job was yet completed. I grabbed the lighter fluid and the matches and went to work. After we were finished, his claws, tail and legs were burned off, and he was most certainly dead.

After googling around, we are convinced that he was a Florida Bark Scorpion.

Scorpions are pretty gross, I’m not going to lie. Chalk that up to a new experience for us.

I had a very good conversation with a friend of mine not too long ago. Unfortunately for most people, they won’t know a thing about the conversation or who the person is. However, that isn’t really necessary to the point that I want to make.

Too often we (myself certainly included) look at people as projects, things to fix, or a way for us to help. This usually involves us giving advice, trying to help, doing what we think they need, etc. On the surface, this is, honestly, a noble thing to do. We want to help people. We want to make them better. We want to bring God glory by caring for our fellow humans. The intention is good, and I gladly concede that.

But we begin to miss the point. Legitimately, there are times when people actually want help. And I don’t think is very difficult to determine when this occurs. However, most of the time I don’t think people want us to help, or to fix them. I think people want us to simply just listen. Sometimes I imagine they are saying “Stop trying to fix me and please. Please just listen.” Instead we keep on doing what we do best: fixing problems. We have to come to a place where we realize that people are not problems to be fixed. They are not an item to be crossed off of a to-do list.

For someone like me who is very task oriented, this is easy to fall into. I’ve been learning (albeit slowly) to see people as people and to let them talk, to let them express what is on their mind and in their heart. And I’ve started to realize a secondary (perhaps primary) reason why we want to fix instead of listen. When we listen it challenges us. It causes us to expose ourselves to that person. It causes us to look inside of ourselves and see who we really are.

There is a certain amount of pain and vulnerability that goes along with that. Sometimes people don’t open up because you aren’t listening to them. Sometimes people don’t open up because you aren’t opening up to them. I’ve been in both camps, and I will probably continue to be in both camps many times going forward as well.

And then I think about how Jesus operated. The way that He interacted with people. He didn’t try to fix anyone. He listened to them. And out of that listening, He responded. Think about it. This is God, and instead of fixing people (which, by the way, He is certainly qualified AND capable to do), He took the time to listen to the broken people around Him. Perhaps this is also why the Church has such a terrible reputation of being hypocritical. If we could just learn to listen like Jesus did (and still does), we would be an incredible force for good in this world.

So please. When you meet people, when you talk to people, when you interact with people. Please. Just listen.

This past weekend I went to Taylor for the 2008 graduation. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed my time there! But, to get into some of the overall events, here is the account of my adventures.

I flew into Ft. Wayne airport, and Justin Clupper met up with me. I had rented a car (A little Mazda 6. Sort of a chick car, but a fun car to rent). We headed down to Upland and went to the Party Palace (Brandon, Jay, Kyle and Mark’s place). Rob Bame was there as well. Justin and I headed down to Muncie to Justin Overpeck’s place. Caleb was there as well. We hung out with them for a while, and eventually headed back to the Palace. All of us hung out for a while, and eventually got to bed.

The next morning Rob, Justin and I went to Matthews to eat at the breakfast buffet that all of us had said we would do in college, but never did. It wasn’t terribly amazing. But then again, it was about four dollars, and the quality of food was at least as good as the DC’s. We decided we enjoyed it. We got back and the graduates were just about ready to leave, so we were able to start getting ready. Once we were all cleaned up, we headed to the ceremony. We had to sit in the chapel since it was indoors. At first we were a little annoyed at this, but then we came to realize it was actually quite pleasant. Rob and I escaped early to get the car and pick up Brandon’s grandparents so we could shuttle them over to the KSAC. When we got to the KSAC, there were tons of people I had forgotten were in that class. I saw so many people, and it was fantastic! I realized that I was really, really close to that graduating class, and it was so good to see so many of them again.

After that, we headed back to the Palace to pack up our stuff. We cruised over to Brandon’s parent’s house for his open house party. A lot more people came, and that was a lot of fun. Eventually Rob and I headed back to the Palace so I could go back to Indy. I really enjoyed my time with all of my TU friends, and was so proud to see them graduate.

So I headed back down to Indy. When I got there, I went over to Jenny and Rachel’s place to hang out. Her brother Jeff was there, and Becca also came over, as well as their group of friends. I didn’t really know many of them, but I had a great time hanging out with them. After that I headed back to Marcus’s and my place. It was really great to see Marcus again! And to sleep in my own bed was also pretty fantastic.

The next morning I went to church at Grace (how good it felt to be back at my home church!). After the service, the adult leader banquet (for senior high) was going on, so I got to be a part of that. I had some delicious breakfast, and got to see most of the other adult leaders (sadly I missed Beth and Brandon, but I’m sure I’ll see them very shortly after I return!). After that I headed back to the house. I went for a run after a while, and it was a beautiful day out. While Marcus was out and about, I met up with Becca to have some ice cream. I had a good time and really enjoyed our conversation. Marcus then called and so I headed back to have some dinner with him. Then we watched Charlie Wilson’s War. That turned out to be a surprisingly good movie!

Monday was Marcus’s day to watch Zane. So I got to hang out with the two of them for a while. Zane is walking like crazy now! I’m excited to get to see more of him once I get back. Eventually it was time for me to go, so I packed up my stuff. I drove up to Brandon’s (Scooter’s) place for a few hours. We hung out for a while, but then I also had to leave there. So I went to the Ft. Wayne airport, dropped off my vehicle, and met up with Justin Clupper again. We went out to eat, and then he took me back to the airport.

My flight was delayed by about an hour, which meant I landed around midnight. Troy was very kind and picked me up when I got in. We came back to the apartment, and so ended my 2008 TU Graduation weekend.

I wonder to myself, several hours later,
What it was about you that cast that spell.
Was it your smile that glows like firelight
Or your hair that shines like gently polished gold?
Did your laugh contain some form of magic
That wove itself over my mind again and again?
Eyes like a sea of stars shining quietly in the night
Draw me deep into themselves with their power.
So I think quietly to myself
   …what spell did you cast?