Freedom, Slavery, Justice, and Mercy Walk into a Bar

So, yesterday we successfully got the salt and pepper and a bottle of Chardonnay and Merlot to my room! Jason’s been asking around trying to find Dragon. We want to give him a tip! However, no one seems to know him. Hmmmm.

It pays to have friends, you know? Because we’ve made friends with James and Khrystina in Vines, they helped with the salt and pepper and the wine. Because we were friendly with Ecer, despite the postcard debacle, he helped me get room service last night.

The world could truly run on kindness. SHOULD truly run on kindness.

But it doesn’t, you know. Which reminds me…

Yesterday, I mentioned some books I’m reading. The one on poverty and violence is called the Locust Effect. I support an organization called the International Justice Mission- their purpose is to free people caught up in slavery and trafficking and to bring justice to those who carried out the crimes. The book was written by the IJM founder. 

If you know me, you know that I often talk about freedom. It’s one of my deepest loves. A few years ago, some random day in some random place, a very difficult thought hit me. It was this, “Rachel, if you care so much about freedom, why do you care so little about the opposite of freedom?”

I had to wrestle with that a bit. What even is the opposite of freedom?

Slavery. Really. The inability to do what one wants. To think for themselves. To choose their own path. To make their own calls. Slavery. 

Is it true that I didn’t care about it? Sort of. That doesn’t feel good to say. But if I’m being honest, was I doing anything at all … even just thinking about it? Nope. 

But since then, I’ve been thinking a lot about it. Often. All the time. Daily, even. What’s grown in my heart is a hatred for slavery and trafficking that is just as strong and robust as my love for freedom. 

Around this time, wouldn’t you know, the church I was attending had a guest from IJM come speak. Because of course they did;) I was bowled over! The work they are doing is painstaking, years in the making sometimes, powerful, soul-crushing, and so damned worth it. It’s easy to give money every month. No problem. It’s harder to think deeper about what else can be done.

In the meantime, another concept that’s near and dear to my heart….justice… has been running ragged around the back of my brain. Justice. 

I’ve always been intensely interested in trial law. I watch and read a lot about the wrongly convicted. Yet another angle of missing freedom. Where’s the justice? Where’s the justice there for the original victim of the crime — who saw someone go to jail but not the person who actually did the crime? Where’s the justice for the falsely accused- the wrongly convicted who now sits behind bars, their freedom striped away, and for what? Wrong place wrong time? Bad court proceedings? Bad lawyer? Perjury? Where’s the justice for the criminal? Who did the bad thing and should have to pay for it. The eye for the eye. Why can’t we have justice?

I can be empathetic to a fault. Always able to see both sides - even when one side isn’t good. I’d be hell on wheels on a jury. This trait, without reason, without knowledge or logic, could be dangerous. Why? Because we need justice. 

One thing that stays with me is that the God of the New Testament is the same God as the Old Testament. Yes, Jesus changed things. But that’s not quite my point here. My point here is that the God of the Old Testament was MIGHTY. Our God is still mighty. And He’s still the God who brings justice. But with Jesus, we also get a heavy dose of human mercy. Justice with mercy. 

What’s mercy with no justice? Think about it. What is it? 

What’s justice with no mercy?

Ouch. 

What’s both together? Mercy and justice? It’s the best reckoning. It’s the right way. The redemption path. The restoration. 

So there I am. April 8th. Sitting in my cabin having just received the news that my COVID test was positive. Jason had already left for his tour of Athens. Nothing to do but think. And cry. And I’m not very good at crying because I don’t do it a lot. But life was feeling a little unfair and I was pissed off and sad and feeling sorry for myself so crying I was.

Soon, my brain reminded me that my life is so very good. Better than most. And, that’s right. Time to move on. I grabbed The Locust Effect. I wanted to read it on this trip. And here I was, freedom removed. Stuck in this cabin. Nothing to do. 

Here’s what I read:

“ Without the world noticing, the locusts of common, criminal violence are right now ravaging the lives and dreams of billions of our poorest neighbors. We have come to call the unique pestilence of violence and the punishing impact it had on efforts to lift the global poor out of poverty the locust effect. This plague of predatory violence is different from other problems facing the poor; and so, the remedy to the locust effect must also be different. In the lives of the poor, violence has the power to destroy everything— and it is unstopped by our other responses to their poverty. Severe hunger and disease can also destroy everything for a poor person — and the things that stop hunger don’t necessarily stop disease, and the things that stop disease don’t necessarily address hunger. The difference is that the world knows that poor people suffer from hunger and disease- and the world gets busy trying to meet those needs. 

But, the world overwhelmingly does not know that endemic to being poor is a vulnerability to violence, or the way violence is, right now, catastrophically crushing the global poor. As a result, the world is not getting busy trying to stop it. And, in a perfect tragedy, the failure to address that violence is actually devastating much of the other things good people are seeking to do to assist them”

Feels a bit like justice and mercy. Needing to coexist.

That overwhelmed my justice seeking, freedom loving, slavery hating heart so I needed to stop reading for a bit.

I sat and pondered. Staring out at the ocean. Eventually my thoughts trailed back to myself. Why is this happening to me? Why now? Why am I in quarantine? Why will I miss the last week of my trip. What’s the purpose of that? Ugh.

I still don’t know. But what I DO know is that periods like this in my life always bring about some semblance of a new direction. New growth.

Live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1)

The world gets busy doing some things…but not always the right things…(Locust Effect)

Hmmmm.