headlines

When headlines have heart ties, no mere casual glance is possible. When a place has a face, a beating pulse engraved on your heart...

Evil and terror, corruption and abuse, they are very real.

Yet having stepped foot on a land, you cannot forget. Kindnesses shown. Hospitality extended sacrificially. Care taken.

I have had a radical voice raised against me in public. But for that one voice, there was a throng pushing back the anger, apologizing to me, ushering me on.

In these lands that fill our headlines, my heart aches for them to see the glory of goodness in the face of Jesus.

"But we Christians have looked into the heart of darkness. There is nothing now that could be proposed against it to falsify it — not after the Cross. We have looked into the heart of darkness, and at the heart of darkness there is hope. Because at the heart of darkness there is love. Because at the heart of darkness there is God in Jesus Christ." (Rev. Richard John Neuhaus in one of my most favorite articles "Telling the World Its Own Story")

May we never glance or speak merely of headlines, issues or topics. But have eyes to see the hearts beneath. And always the Hope.