Chaos & Peace

Last night I was reminded again of the thin line between chaos and peace.

Through a similar situation in the past, and through conversations with a good friend, I was given some much needed clarity on how and why these situations happen.

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of Justice" -MLK Jr.

I like to add to that list.. true peace is not merely the absence of conflict, anger, frustration, stress or any number of related things. Because despite the absence of those things, it only takes one incident, or one conflict to light the fuse and then all of the underlying anger, frustration, stress, pain, etc. gets unleashed. Thus there is no true peace.

Barack Obama described this 'tension' in a much more eloquent way, calling it 'quiet riots':

" 'Quiet riots' happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.

You tell yourself, my school will always be second rate. You tell yourself, there will never be a good job waiting for me to excel at. You tell yourself, I will never be able to afford a place that I can be proud of and call my home.

That despair quietly simmers and makes it impossible to build strong communities and neighborhoods. And then one afternoon a jury says, 'not guilty' -- or a hurricane hits New Orleans -- and that despair is revealed for the world to see." -Barack Obama

In the neighborhoods and communities that we work in, these quiet riots go about day after day. Most go unnoticed due to their underlying nature, but it only takes one incident to serve as a reminder that we still have much work to do.

I'm thankful for God's faithfulness and how He gives us glimpses to let us know that what we do matters. I'm also thankful for reminders like tonight that while what we do matters, we still have a lot of work to do to bring forth biblical justice.