Urban Reformation

It’s 1a.m. in the Northeast. Tonight I was awakened by the newest addition to the McCall family, Ivan the Great Dane. It is 1a.m. Ivan was barking , rather aggressively, from his cage/kennel in the back of the house. Ivan’s future as a McCall had been up in the air the last few days because of some very poor choices he had made in chew toys, namely one couch pillow, one couch cushion, and most recently a chicken breast that was previously in the trash. Well tonight he sealed the deal. You see we got Ivan because our faithful dog of twelve years, Shelby, is aging and my wife wanted an immediate replacement in case Shelby goes down. Someone to “guard” the house while we are gone and to alert us to any strange goings on at night. Tonight I was pulled from a well needed deep sleep by Ivan’s serious barking. This last week has been hectic for us to say the least and today was packed with busy handling of the weeks problems. I was tired. So when I heard Ivan barking I thought, “this better be something and not just senseless barking” as if I was wanting something to happen opposed to just some harmless barking. I ran downstairs to see what it was, and saw nothing. Aggravated I stomped back upstairs and was just about to lay down when he felt the need to commence barking. So I grabbed my gun, not sure if it was for the possible looming danger or the barking dog, and went back downstairs. This time I heard something. It was some people outside across the street arguing. This dog had heard this noise that wasn’t right and alerted me. Old faithful by the way, sound asleep. Ivan is a keeper. Back to the real reason I’m up at 1:30 a.m. writing this blog, the people across the street. It was two women who were seemingly mother and daughter. They had with them a baby stroller and a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old. I couldn’t see if there was a baby in the stroller or not. The older of the two ladies, grandma I assume, was standing over the back of the little girl trying to zip up her coat. I say trying because it seemed difficult to do as she swaggered back and forth apparently intoxicated. Somewhat belligerent and angry at her inability to zip the coat, she was yelling and cursing both at the little girl and her mother. This went on for about five minutes until she became more angry with the other woman and began threatening to “beat her up”, this taking priority over zipping granddaughter’s coat up. I wasn’t quite sure what to do so I reported it to the authorities out of concern for the little girl’s safety.

I then began to think of how great the need for Jesus is here. Don’t get me wrong the suburbs and rural areas need Jesus also, but here in the heart of the city the need just practically slaps you in the face. I truly felt as if God was bringing this up to my face and saying “see, do you see this, this is what people are like without me, these people need the Great Physician, this place needs the Gospel what will you do about it.” We know the Great Physician, we have the Gospel, and have been given a Great Commission to take the Gospel to all nations. It reminds me of the check engine light in your car. There was a time when cars didn’t have these lights, the driver had to be aware of and alert to warning signs that something is or might be going wrong with the car. Apathy for the “symptoms” and ineptitude of knowing how to recognize of address them gave need for a mindless light to tell us something is wrong.

Sometimes we as Christians, I fear, can grow apathetic to the symptoms of sin and of be, ourselves, inept in recognizing them. I believe we, at times, are in need of an indicator light, maybe a “check heart” light. We easily get caught up in our daily routine, fall into a habit, and become deceived by our sinful hearts. Before we know it we, do to a lack of introspect, have missed all warning signs and find ourselves distant. Before the warning light people had to resort to regularly examining their vehicles themselves. This, although laborsome and tedious, proved beneficial for the automobile and owner, catching any issues before they became major problems. As Christians we too are to perform self examinations. We are to pay close attention to ourselves and our teaching(1Tim4:16). If we persist in this it will be a great benefit to us and like the automobile owner we will be able to address issues with our heart before they become major problems. Sin in our own heart is just the beginning. The sin of the world, our friends, and neighbors should set off warning lights as well. We need to be awakened to the need for the Gospel in our neighborhoods, work places, and families and not be content with our happy safe Christian bubble. We are the “salt” and “light” not of our Christian circles but of the world. We can not preserve like salt, of expose darkness like light if we don’t take it into the world. We have to see the need and take the gospel to them.

Well tonight I believe my warning light came on. Oh I’ve seen the depravity. I’ve seen the vast lostness of this area and have been effected by it. But not like tonight, tonight I believe the Master “mechanic”, so to speak, took me by the hand to show me, as if to say, “something is wrong, and has been wrong for a long time. Will you give proper attention to the issue at hand.” This begs the question what is proper attention? I believe prayer is the beginning. I believe I must develop a genuine burden for the lost. And I MUST “GO” and “PROCLAIM” the Gospel. The Bible tells us that no one can please God without faith(Heb11:6) and that faith comes by hearing the Word of the Lord(Rom10:17). The world needs Jesus! We have Jesus! Now lets share our beloved Savior with those in need. “How are they to call on one the have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?”(Rom10:14 NETBible)

Popularity: 20% [?]