Days like these
This morning I went into Lisburn with my girls. We visited a few shops and were sitting having coffee and crisps when they announced a minutes silence for the victims in Manchester.
I found myself tearing up at the thought that these families were doing what I was doing with my girls - going out. Having fun. Going to what should be safe places with their children and their friends.
All of a sudden my mind was filled with what would I do if something happened right now. How would I protect my children. How the people next to me would suddenly no longer be strangers but faces I'd never forget. I looked at my girls during this minute and thought about everything they have yet to experience and discover and how I want them to do this and I want to share in that with them.
How can I let them go out into a world where now, nowhere is safe?
Schools, streets, shopping centres, buses, churches, cinemas, clubs, concerts, beaches, airports, tourist attractions.
Life has to happen in the open places, where people interact and come together, where ideas and ideologies mingle and coexist. So to keep my children from this means a life in a shelter, a bunker, away from life, heat, warmth, growth, air, sun.
To live in fear means to live in lock down. For you or for somebody else. I don't want my children to blame somebody else. I want my children to go to the open spaces and speak, share, coexist. To go to the well and draw water for somebody. To sit and share a meal with somebody. To be a shelter for somebody.
'Love' and 'liberal' are tossed around like dirty words. They have been associated with things which don't do them justice. To be liberal does not mean condoning violence and to love does not mean accepting violence.
I almost can't do Facebook and social media at a time like this where the calls to 'get them out' ring out. Where people become ideologies and numbers and the humans are forgotten. Where stories are twisted and the media reign in our minds with titles not representative of the truth or the people.
This is it guys. When the bible says go out into all the world there are no exceptions. It implies we don't own any land for our people group or that people group. It leaves no one out. No clauses no exceptions no small print.
One. One world. One planet. One people. Humans. We all need to do our part. All. Them. Us. We.
A lot of people ask where I stand on everything. What my political views are and how I should let people know. I've been called names because people need to put me in a box or understand my thoughts under a label.
I'll tell you where I stand.
I stand on people not killing people. People not hating people. I stand on our children growing up. Growing up together. I stand on a person who is love. I stand on “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” And “For God so LOVED THE WORLD". I stand on my children going to school, playing on the street, going to the cinema and a concert and travelling the world.
I found myself tearing up at the thought that these families were doing what I was doing with my girls - going out. Having fun. Going to what should be safe places with their children and their friends.
All of a sudden my mind was filled with what would I do if something happened right now. How would I protect my children. How the people next to me would suddenly no longer be strangers but faces I'd never forget. I looked at my girls during this minute and thought about everything they have yet to experience and discover and how I want them to do this and I want to share in that with them.
How can I let them go out into a world where now, nowhere is safe?
Schools, streets, shopping centres, buses, churches, cinemas, clubs, concerts, beaches, airports, tourist attractions.
Life has to happen in the open places, where people interact and come together, where ideas and ideologies mingle and coexist. So to keep my children from this means a life in a shelter, a bunker, away from life, heat, warmth, growth, air, sun.
To live in fear means to live in lock down. For you or for somebody else. I don't want my children to blame somebody else. I want my children to go to the open spaces and speak, share, coexist. To go to the well and draw water for somebody. To sit and share a meal with somebody. To be a shelter for somebody.
'Love' and 'liberal' are tossed around like dirty words. They have been associated with things which don't do them justice. To be liberal does not mean condoning violence and to love does not mean accepting violence.
I almost can't do Facebook and social media at a time like this where the calls to 'get them out' ring out. Where people become ideologies and numbers and the humans are forgotten. Where stories are twisted and the media reign in our minds with titles not representative of the truth or the people.
This is it guys. When the bible says go out into all the world there are no exceptions. It implies we don't own any land for our people group or that people group. It leaves no one out. No clauses no exceptions no small print.
One. One world. One planet. One people. Humans. We all need to do our part. All. Them. Us. We.
A lot of people ask where I stand on everything. What my political views are and how I should let people know. I've been called names because people need to put me in a box or understand my thoughts under a label.
I'll tell you where I stand.
I stand on people not killing people. People not hating people. I stand on our children growing up. Growing up together. I stand on a person who is love. I stand on “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” And “For God so LOVED THE WORLD". I stand on my children going to school, playing on the street, going to the cinema and a concert and travelling the world.