Only One Life Matters

This is probably one of the more heart-wrenching photos you will ever see.

 

This is the family of slain Baton Rouge police officer Mathew Gerald, who was ambushed with other law enforcement officers a couple weeks ago. There are no words to describe what this family or any of the other slain officers families are feeling today. And not only them, but for all of the other families who have lost loved ones to the senseless act of violence in the world, especially these last few months here in America and abroad.

 

Hatred is hatred and evil is evil, you really can't separate them no matter how much you try. Sure, each individual's circumstance/incident may be different, but at the end of the day someone was violently taken away from a family that loved them and they each bled red.

 

Only one life matters, the one that bleeds red.

 

 Today in America we have Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter, Democrats vs. Republicans and Republicans battling Democrats, the media vs. reality, the LGBT community vs. The Church, and denomination vs. denomination. What do all of these battlegrounds have in common? They each cause division. They draw a line in the sand between them and the one's they oppose or are offended with. As much as some of these groups intentions may be for good, some still carry with them a spirit of animosity, a spirit of the real culprit...Satan.

 

"A nation divided against itself cannot stand", Abe Lincoln

 

Instead of creating or teaming up with a group that causes division we should be trying to find ways to unite one another. Solutions not tactics against each other.

 

Just recently Michael Jordan stepped up and did more than just speak words of wisdom. The iconic sports figure whose own father had been murdered in a senseless crime donated one million dollars each to two different organizations, one to which I had no idea existed and the other does more than what you and I probably thought:

 

The first being The International Association of Chief's of Police's newly established institute for community police relations, which promotes and educates the best practices in community policing.

 

The second was for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the nation's oldest civil rights and their ongoing work in support of reforms to build trust and respect between communities and law enforcement.

 

Hmm, organizations that bridge the gap between races and communities without the threat of violence, what a novel idea!

 

Some people might say that it is impossible to unify America now, but history tells us otherwise.

 

In recent days I've decided to dust off that dusty ole' cover and re-read the book The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Within the book are the stories of Americans of all different races who united and fought together to get through the Great Depression and WW2. (If your looking for inspiration through history this is it, you can find this book at your local library.)

 

George Washington Carver once said,

 

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."

 

But he also said,

 

" How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."

 

Some great words of wisdom to live by!

 

And lest we forget,

 

"Then if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)