Blogs from "Cops": Don't Hurt the Kids!

I'm now at the fourth and last of my blog posts on things I've observed on the TV show "Cops." This time I'm not going to write about a specific thing I've heard anyone say, but instead about a general attitude. And it's about an attitude of the cops themselves.

What I've found, from maybe 25 years of watching this show, is that cops hate it when kids get hurt. That makes them madder than anything else. They have a special kind of anger towards the people that do bad things to children.

They are also always on the lookout for protecting children. When they're chasing some guy, and he throws his gun out the car window, later when they've caught the guy, they often say to him, "What if some little kid had picked up that gun?" Or when they go to someone's house to arrest him, and they find drugs lying around openly, and there are little children in the house, they usually give the adults a thorough enraged lecture about what could have happened to the kids if they'd gotten into the drugs.

Sometimes when they have to arrest a guy, and his little kids are nearby, they ask the mother to take the kids inside so that they won't see their dad in handcuffs.

The cops really care about the safety and well-being of children.

I got to thinking that we are God's children. If cops care that much about kids that aren't even their own kids, how much more must God care about us, his own children? He must hate seeing any of his children suffer from injustice, or poverty, or war, or terrible disease, or broken relationships.

What a powerful motivation for us to help others! They are God's children that he loves. I recently stood in a grocery checkout line and looked at all the other people around me, and as I looked at each one, I thought, "God loves her as much as he loves me. God loves him as much as he loves me."

It's easy to get caught up in our own lives, not caring about others. But just like the cops, God wants all his children to be safe and protected. God doesn't want his children to be hurt. God doesn't want them to be victimized. I know that I need to remember that God loves all his children and cares about their safety and well-being. When I remember that, then maybe I will do something about it.

Blogs from "Cops": I Ain't a Crack Ho

One of the few shows that I watch regularly is "Cops". I come from a family of police-radio listeners, and I guess it's in my blood. Anyway, recently I've heard a few of the "subjects" (that's what the cops call the people they're dealing with) say some thought-provoking things. I thought I might write about them. So here's the first one.

One night the cops were talking to a woman working at a truck stop. She wasn't actually working in the truck stop; she was working out in the parking lot. In other words, she was a prostitute looking for truck-driver customers. In the course of the conversation they asked her if she ever accepted payment in the form of drugs. She was quite indignant and said, "I may be a ho [whore], but I ain't a crack ho." In other words, she had her standards! Only a woman with no standards, she implied, would be a crack ho.

This illustrated to me, in a pitiful way, that everyone wants to know that they have standards--that they are not at the bottom of society. Everyone wants to feel that they are worth something. We may be a ho, but we ain't a crack ho. But what a sad thing for this woman to base her worth on. She sells her body, but she only sells it for money, not for drugs. That's her basis for finding self-worth.

I wish I could have reached through the TV set to tell her about a better way to know that she was valued. She is worth so much that the God of the universe died for her. When we really know that, when we really understand how much God loves us, we don't need to find our self-worth in other things, such as in material possessions, or in who we know, or in being better than someone else, or in not being a crack ho. We know that we are worth something because God loves us enough to die for us. That is the most liberating knowledge! It frees us from the need to prove our self-worth in any other way.

May we all realize this: we don't have to prove our self-worth! God gives it to us by loving us. Since the God who created the universe loves us, we are worth something! Thanks be to God for that gift! And I will pray for the woman at the truck stop, that she will know that, too, and find liberation in God's love.

Unknown Future, Known God

This is a scary time here in our country, and even around the world. True, many people have been rejoicing in the last few days over the inauguration of President Obama. But that hasn't made the economic crisis go away. I work for one of the most well-known companies in America, generally regarded as safe and secure: Microsoft. But yesterday, two days after the inauguration, Microsoft laid off around 1000 people, and announced that more jobs would be eliminated in the next 18 months. My job is still intact. But who knows what the future holds?

My husband lost his own job four months ago. The non-profit Presbyterian renewal group he worked for was a victim of the economic climate, and had to eliminate several positions. Now I'm our sole breadwinner, working for a company that is planning reductions in staff. And there are so many other families like us.

The papers are talking about the possibility of a second Depression. We're approaching retirement age. What does that mean for us? What does it mean for our children, for our three-year-old granddaughter, or the other grandchildren still to be born? It's easy to feel fear thinking of this possibly cloudy future.

At work yesterday, the Christians at Microsoft were talking via e-mail about the layoffs. Some of them were among those who had been let go. One of our Christian brothers in India sent the words from a poster he used to have. The poster had said this:

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

We certainly have an unknown future right now! But we also most certainly have a known God. His constancy, love, and care for us are known from the Bible. But they are also known from our experience with him. I know from going through cancer a few years ago that I can absolutely rely on him to get me through any hard time, to sustain me and support me and give me what I need to get by. He doesn't leave us when we're in need.

In fact, God's goodness and love are so great that, when I had cancer, I found that he can make a hard time into a time of blessing and relationship with him that can bring joy beyond imagining. It was a surprise; I hadn't expected it. But it was a wonderful surprise! Others have had this same experience. The hardness of the hard time fades away next to the joy--the joy that comes with the deepening of the relationship with God that happens in the hard time.

So, yes, he is a known God, and what is known about him is so wonderful that, when I read that sentence, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God," it actually gave me a thrill. It made me remember that I don't need to fear. In any future, he'll be there. So even if that future is hard, we'll have him with us, and that will make it good.

Loss and Love

Our dog, Hana, died right after Christmas. She had been part of our family for almost 13 years, ever since she was a year old. This photo, taken by my daughter Mary, shows her with Mary a few days before her death.

I have found that I have been grieving quite a bit, almost as much as if she had been a human family member. She was a good companion over the years, especially when my husband was gone on the many trips he must take for his work.

One night when I was praying, I thanked God for giving me Hana in my life. She had brought me much love and friendship. I feel sure that God has made dogs (and cats) especially for people, to give them love and many other benefits. But while I was thinking about it, I asked God why dogs' lives are so short. Why do we have them to love and cherish, only to lose them a relatively few short years later?

It seemed to me that an answer came while I was praying. I'm not sure if it was God speaking to me, or directing my thoughts, or if it was just something that I thought of. But this is a possibility that occurred to me.

Perhaps the reason we love our animal friends, and then lose them after their short lifespan, is so that we can better understand what God feels about us. It is very painful to me that I now have just an urn of ashes instead of my dear dog Hana. I don't want to be separated from her forever. And, similarly, God doesn't want to be separated from us forever. I feel grief at my loss of Hana, yet my grief is only a small likeness of the grief that God feels at the possibility of losing us. That's why he sent Jesus--who is really himself--to die instead of us, so that we wouldn't die and be lost to him, if only we will respond to that loving sacrifice.

I wouldn't die for Hana. I don't love her that much. Yet God died for me. His love and grief over losing me is so much greater than the love and grief that I feel about losing Hana. What I feel now, hard as it is, is only a shadow and an echo of the love that God feels for me.