Why I'm Not Outraged

I wanted to take a nap. Hours after coffee, a heavy tired weighed me down. Hoping to avoid napping two days in a row, I found an NCIS rerun. And not just any NCIS rerun. I turned to the channel just as the last seven minutes of my all-time favorite episode began. Christmas 2011. Season 9. Newborn King.

Aware that the bad guy had arrived, Gibbs knelt near the back seat of a beat-up sedan in a gas station garage to help a young mother in labor.

Ziva loaded her gun. 

And the music began. "Silent night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright. Round yon Virgin Mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild...”

Agonizing cries juxtaposed the convenience store shoot-out. Ziva and the loose cannon fired till their ammunition ran out and then wrestled, knocking over display racks. Safe in the adjoining garage, Gibbs coaxed the anxious mother until a baby girl found her way into the world.

“Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”

In those few moments, I found the story of Christmas most poignantly played out. The beauty of the birth in a lowly manger—or a back street garage—occurred right in the middle of the war between good and evil.

Relishing the sweetness of the story, the beauty, the angels is all well and good. But it’s not the full picture. It never has been.

The war has always been real. We’ve just been privileged to live in an era of relative national peace.

But that seems to be changing. And many claim, “If you’re not outraged then you’re not paying attention.”

Well, I’m paying attention but I’m not outraged. So, what am I?

While it may seem trite, I’m affected much like I was watching the end of that NCIS episode. Emotion swells, knowing the savior has come and that the mystery is still unfolding as the disease of self-importance overtakes common sense.

Poisoned by our own bad thinking the infrastructure of our nation continues to deteriorate.

Am I outraged? No. I’m heart broken, and all the more thankful that I believe in a big picture story of redemption. Even though part of that story includes sinful people who turn from their Creator, and in an attempt to find meaning, allow their emotions, desires, and one track thinking to lead them down a path of destruction.

Individual beliefs matter. But mutual respect for others also matters.

So pray men and women of God. Turn whatever you feel into passionate prayer. Pray for peace. For holiness. For humility. And for Jesus to be glorified.

And then praise Him. And trust.

For all is calm. All is bright.

All photos courtesy of pixabay.com