Injustice

I'm sitting here in kind of shock that Casey Anthony was found innocent from a crime of which I believe she was guilty. And as I watched the tweets and facebook posts stack up with outrage and anger a question grew in my head.

"So, who cares if everyone is upset? What ACTION is it going to lead me to?"

What good is getting angry or upset if it doesn't lead to action?

We just celebrated Independence Day, everyone knows about July 4th, 1776. If not I'm not a historian and I don't want to try and sound all intelligent for the sake of my own narcissistic need. The bottom line is those guys were deeply upset about the injustices one government was pouring upon them and therefore it drove them to action.

As a new parent I am beyond words upset that a woman, a parent, a MOTHER possibly could do something this evil and vile and get away with it. But what good is getting upset? How can I change the system? Maybe I can't, but what I can do is realize that for every Casey Anthony case, there are probably hundreds of thousands of abused, murdered and trafficked children in our world that I barely ever take the time to think about and most of whom never have a voice. And when I do take the time to think about them or the problem in general it's because I'm at a conference where the issue has been placed in front of me by I speaker I'm so enamored to hear because their latest book tickled my ears, I want to hear them talk more about it rather than take to heart the unspeakable injustices delivered to children. I don't know what I can do to help, but I know there is something I can do. I know it will begin with prayer. I don't know how our justice system got it wrong except to say my prayer needs to start emulating Amos' words: "Let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Amos 5:24)



And yet, at the same time...



If I want God's justice now, am I welcoming it, asking for it for myself as well? Or do I just want it for the most evil of evil people? Where is the line drawn? Child killers? Rapists? What about 'regular murders'? For that matter Jesus said if you hate someone, you've murdered them in your heart...so there you go. What an overwhelmingly humble and conflicting feeling. "I'M AS GUILTY OF SIN AS CASEY ANTHONY". Go ahead, say that a few times and see how you feel...

Oh Jesus - Your mercy is for everyone. I'm so angry that people like Casey Anthony get of innocent in this life, but I know Your Justice is perfect and I know Your Love is limitless. I'm so glad You're God and I'm not! God I pray for Casey Anthony, her family, her friends. I have no idea what in the world they are feeling right now...



Bottom line - let your outrage from injustice lead to positive life-change! Let your outrage come not just from the pop-culture villains like Casey Anthony and the like. Let it come from the countless evil men and women out there who exploit and abuse children every day. Let that outrage lead you to do something about it! Otherwise, don't waist your time posting some trite response to a lack of justice in a world we already knew lacked justice! Jesus said either be hot or cold, but not lukewarm.

Be salt.

Be light.

Airport...waiting...waiting

Tim here! So we got to CLT airport this morning around 11. It's amazing how God has continued to grow our faith continually through this experience. As we were checking bags at the automatic check-in kiosk up popped a message that said "you do not have seats for 1 or more your segments". So here we are thinking "Alright, what exactly does that mean?" Well, the ticket agent came over and explained that while we all had seats from Philly to Rome only I a seat from Charlotte to Philly - they had overbooked the flight and consequently neither Beth, nor Ang had seats (obviously, that meant Ty as well). They said they would have to see about bumping someone on the Philly flight, but nothing about a 'plan B' was ever mentioned. So the apprehension and worry began to poke it's little, ugly head. After we got to the gate, the agent there said "we'll just have to see if someone is willing to be bumped from this flight." Same song and dance. Not very reassuring, huh?! And it seemed like it was a dance Ang had danced about a week ago trying to get to Texas and frankly, it wasn't a song or dance I wanted to participate in! Sitting there waiting for any word from our flight, I noticed there was a flight to Philly leaving about an hour earlier than ours across the concourse and so I sent Ang and Beth to check with U.S. Airways' Special Services to see what could be done - if anything - to get them on that flight. It was nice to finally get a "here's what happens if you don't get on this flight" response. We were to take the 6pm direction flight from Charlotte to Rome, if need be. Thankfully, we got seats on our original flight and I am standing at the power station charging my tech tools for our first leg of this trip. God, it seems is using this experience to grow our faith in His provision, our patience and the ability to not panic in the face of changing plans.
"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness...On Christ the Solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand!"

See you guys either in Philly later tonight or tomorrow in Rome!

Italy

Ang here. It's 11:42. Tim is so excited he had to go run, otherwise he won't be able to sleep. It's absolutely amazing how God has orchestrated this trip. 8 weeks ago Matt and Mel asked us to come and I had tiny faith and decided Tim would go. Then it looked like Tim and I would go and we would send Ty to TX. (I couldn't leave him an ocean away.) Then my mom called and asked if she could be the nanny. Super! Her dream trip w/Ty. All the money came together. We've gotten all the passports. I have a big God. I'm glad he puts up with me and shows me his power. Our flight leaves CLT @ 2:35pm. Then we leave PHL at 4:40 and arrive in RCO @ 8:50 Wednesday morning. We'll spend the day in Rome seeing the Coliseum, Pantheon, Vatican and whatever else we can get our hands on. Then we'll take the train to our resort in Livorno (google it) on the beach! It's only a smidge from Pisa so I hope we get there one day. Stay tuned to our adventures!

Ciao!
Ang, Tim, Ty and Tutu