Paul's Passing Thoughts

“Evil cannot do evil without God turning it into good; evil has to depend on faithlessness and lack of sight to ply its trade.”

The Bible states that God is love. The Bible also states that everything will pass away except love. Love is eternal; love is the only thing left of value that we will take from this world into eternity.

We all do things that could turn our lives upside down in a moment. Few of us are not guilty of texting while we drive. Few of us are not guilty of driving while we are sleepy. In what way is being a cop like being a nurse aide? We get too familiar with the job. We work too many hours, and in a moment of mental lapse accordingly, we turn a resident over without making sure the catheter tube is free. Being under a stringent schedule doesn’t help either. We are caring for anywhere between 10 and 21 residents and must have several tasks completed by a certain time.

Most nurse aides are nurse aides for honorable reasons. Many have saved lives more than once. But if you make a mistake that harms someone, all bets are off; that’s just the way it is. Being a nurse aide is your identity; it defines your life, but all of that can be gone in an instant and your love account cannot buy you out of the situation. Many nurse aides become nurse aides for love, and many are also in prison.

And the commercial buildings. I have walked into the wrong resident’s room on the wrong floor. After a long shift, I have tried to key my way into someone else’s car. At a hotel, I have accidently walked into the wrong room that wasn’t locked. Many of us have.

And when we are surprised or ambushed by the unusual, how we react is unpredictable; the best judgment calls don’t happen in that moment.

There is another way that cops are like nurse aides; somehow, when you consider what they are called on to do, we also expect them to be  just like Mr. Rogers. That’s rather unrealistic. So, the aide on the other hall in the Dementia unit has some dark humor and drinks a little too much. You don’t say? You have to caution another aide about a reaction when they just got poop thrown in their face? Really? Nancy nurse aid, who gets violated verbally and physically several times a week is a little rough around the edges. Who knew?

The world isn’t able to be fair because it is weak. In this world, and in this life, it is easy to find yourself in a situation where you are alone and misunderstood. You can find yourself in a situation where any association with you at all would take self-sacrifice and courage. Good luck with that; your friends will not be many. In ancient Israel, God supplied sanctuary cities for good people who made tragic mistakes; now, those places are only for those who have political value.

Officer Amber Guyger made a tragic mistake that costed Botham Jean his life. In one momment, Jean is sitting on his sofa eating ice cream, and in the next moment he is dead. And unfortunatly, in today’s political climate, Guyer was a policemen while being white, and Guyer was shot while being black. Moreover, Guyer is a little rough around the edges. Clearly, she was guilty of manslaughter, but in an appeasement to the BLM culture, the charges were increased to outright murder. During the trial, the heartless drama of the prosecutor reflected the reality that it is a political and often elected position.

Initially, no surprise, the tyranny of hate was ruling the day. An innocent man was dead, and another life ruined. Nothing but the dead and the walking dead. Surprisingly, Guyer only got ten years with the possibility of parole in 5, in other words, about the maximal for what the charge should have been in the first place. Basically, it was a cowardly capitulation to prevent Dallas from becoming another Ferguson.

By all indications, a good person beloved by hundreds gone, and a young woman who wanted to be a police officer from childhood in ruins. In the penalty phase of her trial, a former drug addict, a black woman, testified to how Guyger was instrumental in turning her life around. Of course, many facts like this are hard to find in this case because it doesn’t feed the politically correct racial narrative.

A hopeless case. Totally bleak, but in all of these cases, God shows up if he’s invited, and he was. God doesn’t “preordain” or “allow” these situations, he turns them into good for those who love him. Evil cannot do evil without God turning it into good; evil has to depend on faithlessness and lack of sight to ply its trade.

Love and courage are synonymous, and courage showed up at Guyger’s trial in the form of Botham Jean’s brother, Brandt Jean. His proclamation of forgiveness on the stand “if you are truly sorry” (a biblical and wise articulation), wasn’t the important part though it will get all of the press. What he did was point Guyger to the only hope left for her: God. When you have lost your life, God offers another one, “if you ask him.” Though Jean’s gospel presentation has been deemed naïve and misguided by politically correct haters, his presentation was predicated with the proper “if” qualifications. Forgiveness is conditional. That’s biblical.

However, the way the world will end is not conditional. God will win in the end; love will win. In-between, it is our choice when this life takes the only life we have; even a life built with good intentions. In a moment, we can rightfully hate that life along with everyone else.

You can choose love now, later, or reject it altogether. But it’s a choice everyone makes by default or with intentionality. This is the excellent gospel Jean presented to Guyger…

…sealed with a hug.

paul