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Thursday, June 4, 2020 - Join Pastor John for a Daily Devotional

June 4, 2020 by Rev. John Hartman

“Not The Way It’s Supposed to Be”

In the movie, “Grand Canyon,” an immigration lawyer played by Kevin Kline finds himself stuck in Los Angeles traffic after a Lakers’ basketball game. Rather than waiting it out, he attempts to bypass the traffic jam by taking an alternate route home instead. However, the route he takes leads him down progressively darker and more deserted streets. And then right in the midst of an old, broken-down neighborhood, the lawyer’s expensive car breaks down. He manages to call a tow-truck, but before it gets there, the lawyer suddenly finds himself surrounded by five young street toughs who surround the man’s car and threaten him with bodily harm. Just then, the tow-truck driver shows up, a kind and decent man, played by Danny Glover, who begins hooking up the disabled car. As he does, those young street teens begin to protest that the tow-truck operator’s getting in their way. And, it’s at that point that the tow-truck driver takes the leader of the gang aside and says to him, “Man, the world ain’t supposed to work like this. Maybe you don’t know that, but this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to be able to do my job without asking you if I can. And that dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you ripping him off. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here.”

As I have watched the events of last week and this week unfold in Minneapolis and around the country, I am reminded of that scene, and specifically that line in the movie, “ . . . this ain’t the way it’s supposed to be.” What happened in Minneapolis to George Floyd was a tragedy that should not have happened. What is happening to our cities and businesses is flat out wrong, and is only hurting people more. The police who protect and serve us absolutely deserve our respect and gratitude.

That said, it is really easy to take sides, and embrace the biting rhetoric that is heard on TV or shown on Facebook. Or, there is the temptation to block it all out and develop a “bunker mentality.” By that I mean, put up a big brick wall around our families, the people we love, and for all of us down here in the southern end for that matter. And then, let’s hang up a sign that says, “Keep Out!” But, I know we can’t do that! And guess what? The Church can’t do that either! We know that because of sin, sin that manifests itself in racism, brutality, violence, and rioting, -- things ain’t the way it’s supposed to be! And so, we pray for God to make it right. Nothing wrong to ask God for that. Maybe, we need to go one step further, and not only ask God to make things right, -- the way they’re supposed to be, -- but for God to also make US right, -- the way we are supposed to be, too!