Hello from Alliance, Neb. I haven't updated this blog in a little while because of school and finals and my trip to western Nebraska. I've been here for the past few weeks and have been updating another blog for the trip, which focuses on migrant farm workers. You can read that blog for all those updates.
Anyway, I've been sitting in the trailer all day and wanting to write something. I've had some thoughts going through my mind recently and some things have really been stirring my heart.
First is the tornado that swept through Joplin, MO last week. I watched videos and looked at photos and all I could think about was how it looked like a movie set; it did not look real at all. It's taken awhile for me to feel something and realize that there is so much pain that has swept over our country, and not just in Missouri. I know there has been flooding down south in Louisiana and many other storms in other parts of the country. I came across a plea on a facebook group for people to pray and search for a young man named Will Norton who was sucked out of the car while riding back from his graduation ceremony. I just checked in on the facebook group today and was sad to see that he was found but was not alive. Reading stories about him, though, I quickly realized that he was someone who loved people and loved God and so it made me happy to know that he is with his Lord right now, but also sad to think that he is just one of many people who died in the tragedy and that there were probably many people who did not know Jesus.
A second thing I have been thinking about is a song called Jesus, Jesus by Noah Gundersen. It's a really heart-wrenching song because it's like a call out to Jesus to see if he is there and if he can explain what is wrong with the world and all the people in it. Noah also mentions being treated mean by so-called Christians and questions whether they know what they do, and he thinks they do know.
I read some more about Noah and learned that he was raised in a very Christian home but he's not a practicing Christian anymore, mostly it seems because of the ways in which he feels "burned" by the church.
Last night when I was sitting in the trailer with some of the girls on our trip, we got to talking about religion and one of the girls asked the other girl if she is religious; she didn't go into it very much before the conversation was interrupted, but she said she feels like she is spiritual and added that she has been really "burned" by the church.
My blood boiled a little when I heard her say that because I knew it was true: I know that the Church has a long history of "burning" those who are just as lost as the next person and seeking acceptance and love. When people can't find it in the church, they turn to other social circles or other means.
My heart hurts so much for those people who are desperately seeking God but cannot find Him where they would expect to find Him: in a church. I pray for Noah and the girls on this trip and for everyone else who is hurting and searching that they would find Jesus and know that He loves them and is listening to their cries. I know I am just one person, but I also pray that God can use me to erase some of the burns that people have felt from the Church and from the people called "Christians" whom are called to love, but do not.
Good insight, Bethany.
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