It’s fun to watch the TV show Cops, it’s even better in
person. Hailee and I lived in a questionable area in Lansing, MI. While it
would be classified as a bad area, there were mostly good people with just a
few bad apples that ruined it. One of the bad apples lived across the street.
It wasn’t even the family, it was a relative. This was when the fun began.
I arrived home to see a SWAT vehicle parked across the
street. This was better than what I was doing so I stopped and watched Cops
from my front porch. They got the guy arrested and a whole bunch of SWAT
members were walking around with semi-automatic guns and rifles. I should have
grabbed some popcorn because this show was awesome. I even got to witness the
slowest get away possible.
As the situation died, another began. As the cops were talking
and the front driveway was blocked by a couple of officers. A person walked
right out the front door unnoticed and into a car in the driveway. Once the car
was started, the officers noticed the car starting to move and one blocked the
car from leaving and the other knocked on the window to get the person to stop.
The car started edging away slowly and ignored the cops. Finally the cop
knocked with the gun they had. The person stopped and got out, it was a 70+
year old women. Man, that was the slowest get away in the world. You can’t make
this stuff up. The relative of hers was into selling drugs among other things.
The family and neighbor needed help, what could I do?
Ignoring situations don’t prevent bad things from happening.
Watching this was fun and interesting yet sad. They were a family in which one got
into a bad situation and lived their lives selling drugs, how can I help with
that? Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)…
“So here’s what I
want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before
God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can
do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from
the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond
to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of
immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in
you.”
We can either watch lives get ruined or do something to
change lives. I look back at that situation in that neighborhood, I could have
tried helping my neighbors or get to know them better instead of just watching.
You can talk bad about this generation or you can do something to help.
Everyone can help even an 80 year old lady in a Mexico
prison. A lady who grew up in Beverly Hills went to one of the most dangerous prisons
in Mexico. She started serving and loving the inmates in a very dangerous
situation. She even broke up a riot.
She could have thought she couldn’t help the situation, but
God did. God puts people in your life for a reason, some for friendship, some
for love, some for you to love. We aren’t going to get along with everyone we
meet, but we can still show them love. We aren’t supposed to live life for the American
dream. We are called to help others out when they are down.
God brings the best out of us. Jesus gave us the ability to
show love to other people because he showed love to us. I wonder what would
happen if I showed love to the people around me in Lansing? While you can’t go
back, you can go forward, who can you help in your life today? Who can you
serve and encourage today? God gave you his best in his son Jesus for your
sins, one of the best ways to help others out is to serve them the way God
served us. Who can you help today?
Have a great day.
