Last night, just after sunset, San Diego experienced something rare: A thunderstorm.
It was awesome. I was in the middle of a Rolando Community Council board meeting, we were all sitting outside, strategically far enough apart to allow for social distancing– but as the first flashes of lightening and distant thunder rolled through– we were all highly distracted.
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On the surface, our garden looks healthy. We have lots growing. There are lots of flowers. Things get fertilized. We have good soil. We have good irrigation.
Good light, good soil, good seed. That’s a winning strategy in most gardens. You’d think we are doing quite well.
You’d be wrong.
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Last night I watched parts of the Frontline film, America After 9/11. Each year around this time, but especially as we near the 20th anniversary, I think a lot about what life in America was like before September 11th, 2001.
I so desperately want to see our country put the genie back in the bottle and go back to how things were before then. I want my kids to know their country like that. I want to experience it myself. But those days are gone. We can’t go back to a pre-9/11 life because it all really happened.
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You are a whole, unique, 360-degree, three-dimensional person made in the image of God.
We live in an age that likes to cast humans into two-dimensional boxes. We tend to pigeonhole people because of something they’ve said or posted online or even something they did in their past.
But in doing so we are turning their humanity into a caricature.
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Illegal immigration is a problem for both the United States and Mexico.
But I’m guessing you’re only sort of familiar with the problem from the American perspective? Each day tens of thousands of Americans illegally enter Mexico without proper documentation.
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As we round the pandemic’s corner this summer, shifting from hunkering down to opening up, I’d like to highlight Good News in the Neighborhood of the local church here on my blog and on my social channels.
Just about 11 months ago we were settling into the idea that COVID-19 was going to be bad.
We had no idea how bad things could get. None.
As of today, 500,000 Americans have lost their lives to this pandemic. By comparison, the entire population of Sacramento is 494,000.
What if I’d told you 11 months ago that everyone living in Sacramento would be dead in a year? You’d probably report me to the police.
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I failed yesterday. It hurt. It sucked. And I did it on purpose.
Over the summer, after months of nudging by my friends, I picked golf back up. For me, during the pandemic, it’s been the perfect outlet. I get out and exercise, building cardio and muscle by walking San Diego’s hilly courses, but more importantly it’s helped keep me sane from the repetition of elongated stay-at-home orders from COVID-19.
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To move up sometimes you need to move on.
I’ve given that advice to youth ministry friends over the past decade. And this year I finally awoke to the reality that it was time to take my own advice.
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What if the cure to COVID-19 is kindness?
If that’s the cure we’re in trouble.
But maybe it is the cure? And since kindness costs us nothing why don’t we just give it a chance?
Just an idea.