liberty wall

I had assured all of our parents that we would not actually spend any time in Detroit. That although we would spend the night with friends in a safe suburb, we would scoot right on by that dangerous city over the border into Windsor on our way through the peaceful landscape of Canada to our favorite Dutch farm.But downtown Detroit is exactly where we ended up.Stunned riding in the car through suburbs, through remains of a shrunken city limits, passing under Eight Mile Road, past rubble of immensely enormous buildings, into the current city limits.Our host, born and bred there, savvy and armed for any situation, ushered us down and around. Seeing the old made new. Seeing the old...abandoned, memorials of past grandeur, left to crumble, a host for lawlessness.A city which was once one of the wealthiest cities in America now bankrupt.Corruption, violence, theft, vandalism... Apparently, a city where 911 operators qualify emergency calls to decide if they can send their limited staff of responders. A city where law is enforced on the streets, but abandoned structures once glorious now fenced off become havens for everything but abiding by the law. Allegedly, a city where car thieves speed to make it into the city limits because law enforcement just does not have time to deal with car theft there.It's not that everything is falling apart. There are buildings rebuilt. Restaurants reopened. Athletic teams to rally behind. Urban farming utilizing vacant city spaces. But the evidence of the crumbling is evident regardless.An intriguing city. A study in human invention, ingenuity, brokenness, corruption. Freedom and bonds.Winding through downtown on the way to Canada, we passed a massive beautiful stone wall engraved,"Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."Honestly, I was shocked. How could a city so bound have a prominent wall, on their city hall of all places, emblazoned with this message of ultimate liberty from 2 Corinthians 3:17? Was it ironic jest? Liberty surely did not seem to describe the scene we just experienced.Mulling this over, I came to the realization...The truth of God's Word remains. When all crumbles around, it stands. Strong, beautiful, alluring. When other walls literally fall down in decay, abandoned in ruin the Truth stands, always.And no one has to affirm or live by the Truth in order for it to be true. It stands regardless of whether I heed it or not. And when I have woefully rejected the Truth, it still remains beckoning the way back to freedom. Standing stark and beautiful, a call to liberty. Especially in the places bound and broken. Even literally.We were there back in April and I still have not forgotten that wall. That Truth. Liberty beckoning to the bound, over the broken and crumbling places. Never falling. Always beautiful, strong, standing tall over all. Together, let's answer the call of the Lord to liberty over all of our places that have fallen apart, fallen down.