God Speaks... Through Conversations

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth..."*

Due to the rise of debates that have risen after the murder of George Floyd back on May 25 of this uniquely challenging year, I have been silent in my public writing . My public silence has not been because I have no opinions on the issue. Quite the opposite. I have TONS of thoughts, questions, and opinions, and it would have been very easy for me to write up a quick post about racial injustice.

However, I felt God prompting me to be publicly silent.

When I say "publicly silent", I do not mean that I have not talked about #blacklivesmatter, police brutality and necessity for law enforcement, peaceful protests and destructive riots, systematic racism, white guilt, red lining, slavery, political influence, Jim Crow laws, and so much more.

What I am saying is this: I personally have been silent on social media platforms. And there are a few reasons for this.

First, many people have been speaking their opinions, and I found my own opinion lacking in wisdom on these subjects. Proverbs 1:5-6 says "let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise." However, that proverb continues in verse 7 to state "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." While letting others offer their opinions, I have been prayerfully weighing their words against the Word of God to see His wisdom rather than man's foolishness.

Second, I did not want to start a social media debate. Honestly, it seems like there are people on social media just waiting to start an argument for the sake of sparking anger, hatred, and division (which we could use a lot less of right now on all sides). To add to that thought, God warns us to not argue with fools because they are unreasonable (Proverbs 26:4-5) and the attempt to reason with them is a waste of breath, breath which seems to not be a given right to all Americans...

Third and finally, I have been trying to practice being "quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to be angry" (James 1:19). I have felt anger. I have wanted to scream my opinions. But the Lord has been teaching me the value in listening, in pondering, in learning. And I have learned a TON. However, I know I still have much to learn, but that is okay. "Life is a journey, not a destination" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). The moment I think I have reached the finish line, I either am dead and correct or am alive and self-deceived.

Due to all of those reasons, I have been publicly silent. HOWEVER, I have not been silent. If anything, I have been more vocal about racial injustice then ever. How so? Through genuine conversations.

It has been the one-on-one conversations that have been so good, educational, and humbling with both my black and white siblings in Christ, with my family and friends. There have been agreements and disagreements, confusion sometimes leading to clarity, tears ending in awareness and wisdom. Some of my own opinions have changed while others have remained after being tested by refining fire. It has been these moments of listening, sharing, reading, and being real that I have seen the Wisdom of God.

Dear reader, wherever you stand on this debate about racial injustice, keep learning. Ask hard questions. Get perspectives from those who come from a different background from your own. But above all, LISTEN.

Be an active listener. Meaning, be fully present in your listening by taking in the information someone else has to offer without attempting to come up with a brilliant response. Listen to the point that you are speechless yet wise (Proverbs 17:27-28).

Then, after listening, act on your knowledge. It will be pointless if, after all our conversations, we do nothing to change the injustice we see. 1 John 3:18 says, "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth". If we Christians do not change and love others better after these conversations about racial injustice, then we are hypocrites who know nothing, including the God we claim to know and follow (Titus 1:16, John 13:35).

I have much to learn. I have much to listen and ponder. And I have much to do in response to the injustice in this corrupt world.

If you want to know my incomplete opinion, feel free to message me to set up a time to chat. I would love to talk with you, to share my thoughts and knowledge with you, and to listen to your opinions and facts on the matter because you and your voice matters to me.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."*

*Quotes from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken"