Just love

Good news!!

My friend Chico (the lad I introduced to you all in last weeks episode) got out of prison today on bail! When he called me on the phone, I confusedly asked "Chico how are you calling me? you got out how?" The only thing he said back was "hey man you prayed".

Yes! Prayer!!!

Apparently this was his last chance to go up for bail and word got out through his landlord that he has made a lot of life changes lately and so a social services group heard about his case and decided to help the brotha out! Seriously guys this is a miracle because he was charged with three accounts one being resisting arrest. Apparently they never let someone out on bail if they were resisting arrest. That charge was total bull though, I was there when he was being arrested. I guess GOD and/or the judge saw through it. This means that he'll be able to make whatever arraignments he needs to before his sentencing. He will have to go back to prison again but this will at least give him some time to be with his daughter (the reason he's changing his life) and prepare himself for whatever will come after jail. He's still running the risk of being deported but now with the next couple months out of jail he'll be able to set himself up right for whatevers coming. Thank you all so much for praying for a guy you don't even know, he told me he really appreciates it.

I don't know how all of you relate this sort of story or sentiment to GOD but I often have a hard time reconciling GOD's love and justice. I should explain what I mean by love and justice. A lot of the time I see two faces to GOD; 1. a strict father figure that requires punishment and death for everyone who sins (ultimately everyone born), and the 2nd face being a really nice old grandpa that I know loves the crap out of me and I can't help but love back. I know its a dichotomy of a Good GOD, but sometimes my humanness just wants to disassociate the one from the other. I'm taking a theology course, through distance ed, and I found a couple paragraphs in one of my readings that really helped me understand this tension. The author (Erickson) said "if love does not include justice it is mere sentimentality" he goes on to say that justice if not implemented through love is just being a bully with 'the rules'. I don't know if you'll see what I mean through tying this story to my understanding of GOD but I think that GOD is a lot easier to understand when we see HIM at work in a situational story like this. On the one hand my friend Chico knows what he did and he's willing to pay what he owes to the good he didn't serve. Fully knowing and accepting that sin (wrong) requires a payment. But then GOD busts out an awesome loving act of letting Chico out of jail, for a little while, so that he can love and share with his daughter at least for now.

"Thus, justice is loving justice and love is just love."



Erickson Millard J. CHRISIAN DOCTRINE, Baker Achedemic, Grand Rapids Mich. 2003.