More random thoughts … to follow Jack’s example

• I sure enjoyed seeing the movie, Amazing Grace, this weekend with my family though I’m glad the director didn’t graphically portray all that the African captives had to bear on the trip over. It was a bit easier on my conscience not to have to linger on the great suffering those on the ship endured. And it was striking to realize how long William Wilberforce labored to see slavery abolished. May we be as persistent in doing right.
• Yesterday, I was able to speak to a young female resident in a way that I would speak to my daughters. I was amazed at how she was riveted to my words as I spoke. I can’t think what I said was terribly profound. But what a great opportunity - in some small way – to fill the void left by a father who wasn’t there with hope that she might better know the Father who is always there.
• I felt sad at the Monday press conference announcing the guilty in the latest two shootings in Lancaster. Sad for a little girl – who is thankfully headed toward full recovery, sad for a young man who is dead, sad for turf wars and the presence of drugs in our community. Sad for young people out late at night groping for a manhood or womanhood they find elusive. Sad for those with a seared conscience to use the phrase of one state official. Sad for the role models of the day that champion bluster and self-interest.
• I guess Senators Specter and Casey can get some more bucks into our community and agencies can keep talking and partnering – which is all good. But who’s raising our children? Who’s there to build a sense of self, to provide loving boundaries when the kids are young, to model walking through tough times in a way that encourages the development of character and perseverance?
• Did you notice how the white snow by the side of the road so promptly turned black from the fumes of the cars and trucks that passed by? It kind of reminds me of how the world started – pristine and untouched – and how we quickly spoiled God’s creation with the dirt of pride and a consuming self-interest. And I remember G K Chesterton’s quote, "Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved." Sad, real, and profound. See above.

- Steve Brubaker, Residential Ministries