​As I sit here days in the aftermath of all that’s occurred. There is a question burning in my heart that is lit like the flames of hell. A question that should never be asked much less spoken in a land where we have such plenty yet lack such love.

It’s a question I hate to the very core of my being, not because of its answer, because it should never have to be asked of civilized people. Yet here I am pondering it over and over in my mind weary from its pointless madness.

I’d like to share my burden with you and ask you, “Whose life matters?”

In the wake of all the recent tragedy one must ask themselves what is at the very root of all this madness and what causes such a question to be at the very root of the turmoil?

What dormant seed has lain within the soil of America and finally is rearing its ugly head?

Sure there have been racial divides longer than I have been alive. There has been anger and death on both sides of the aisle. Bigotry, racism and just plain old meaness for as long as I can remember.

This however is different. This is something that is awakening and it’s frightening. This will set us further back than even Dr. Martin Luther King feared.

This is stronger and more powerful than even death itself could be.

This is a world strangled by fear and choked by violence no longer able to live as before. We have become something we were never created to be. We have sadly become animalistic in our need to survive

By sheer instinct every race, culture and ethnicity is now fueled by the need to survive.

When this occurs the moral, civil and basic needs of society begin to unravel at the seams. Every man for himself/herself.

Adrenaline constantly pumping, suspicion always the first assumption and survival the only instinct before thought. This makes a bread basket of death, destruction and decline to every society caught within its grip.

Whose life really matters then? A certain color of skin, a certain race of people? No, the only life that matters is mine or yours. Your need for survival and my need for survival make us enemies regardless of the color of our skin or the race we belong to.

The tragedy is not only are people losing their lives in this race for survival if we don’t wake up to the conditioning we too will be caught in the trap. The chaos and madness will become the norm and the America we once knew no more.

Look at the horrifying results of the root beginning to shape our culture. Look at the tragedy our children, grandchildren will one day assume is normal societal behavior. All because we have allowed this to continue.

The men shot by police officers, the police officers as well, the families of both sides, they all died that day. These lives will never be the same and neither will ours.

 The concussion that came from those shots fired were heard around the world and every single person was hit in the heart by the projectile.

The sniper on the roof, the police officers on the ground, people running for their lives, some struggling to keep their children out of harms way. These were families, they have lives, they had/have purpose on the earth.

The chaos,the confusion, the echoes of the snipers rounds are still being heard today. Once again we’ve all been hit with another piece of projectile straight in the heart.

Do you know what happens when you keep getting wounded over and over in the same spot. The skin eventually hardens like leather making each new wound increasingly more difficult.

This is what is happening we are getting hit over and over again and instead of people stopping the madness. We dial our compassion down a little more each time. Pretty soon we won’t even be a resemblance of what we should be.

 America the beautiful will become America the desolate.

We are not created solely to survive. Nor are we created just to tolerate other people. We are created first to love God and then love people. Jesus said no-one would hardly die for another, except maybe a friend. Yet, He called us to lay down our lives for His sake just as He did for us. He told us to bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Driving out the root with love will conquer even the greatest of enemies.

How are we going to kill this bitter root rearing its ugly head? We will kill it only with genuine, true love for each other. Not fake it until you make it love.

Real love that reaches across aisles, sails across borders, tears down walls and builds foundations of peace, respect and dignity for all people.

We were all made by the hand of God Himself out of the very dust of the earth. We are uniquely His in every way. The only creation to bear His image, His unique signature.

My fellow Christians, I beg of you, stop the rhetoric dialogue and reach across the aisle. Mend the broken pathways, restore peace to all. Spend your time making brothers and sisters and so fulfill Christ law.

Return to a time when thought is the first thing you do and survival the very last. Stop lashing out and be the evidence of change you keep talking about.

In the end all lives matter. That is the true answer. Until we see that we will continue to be divided and manipulated until the point of extinction.

If you want it to be different then do something different. You can only change the status quo by being an individual. It’s time we stop responding in hate, lashing out with angry words. 

Can we not see what it is doing to our children and grandchildren? Effectively and efficiently we are killing their hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow, a brighter future. Is this what we really want? 

I will ask you one more time, “Whose life matters?” 

Reflect deeply, love strongly and let your hate be buried in the dust of broken dreams and empty promises. Rise to the occasion and make the America we love beautiful again. A land of the free and the home of the brave…

I’m hid with Christ,
Shawn