Wednesday, June 3, 2020

George Perry Floyd – What would he say today?

George Perry Floyd – What would he say today?



I have been mostly silent about George Floyd these past few days.  Not completely silent as I have commented on a few posts and called to check on some of my dark skinned friends, but otherwise I have been silent. 

Not completely silent. 

As I initially learned about George my first reaction was to vomit.  These acts of murder via those that should be our protectors make me sick.  Then my next reaction was anger, I would like to think it was righteous anger, but sometimes anger can take hold and turn into sin, so I ‘checked’ my anger and put it on hold. 

Then came the part where I was not so silent. 

I cried.  I cried out to God.  I cried for George, the man I never knew, never met.  I cried for his family and friends.  I cried for those in charge that allowed and even caused this to happen.  I cried. 

Then I went silent again. 

I had to pray.  I went into my closet and prayed.  As the articles, blog posts and FaceBook posts came out I read many of them and prayed.  As my friends and many strangers began to voice their thoughts and opinions I listened, thought some more and prayed.  As the peaceful protests and violent riots began I fell to my knees and prayed some more.  I asked God to speak to me.  This particular situation always makes me feel like my hands are tied.  I am not black, even though when I was growing up people would often ask me, “Who’s black, your mommy or your daddy?  Because you have black skin, but easy hair.”  The answer is neither.  I am Chinese and white, I just tan to chocolate skin when I swim a lot.  I have black relatives in my family and I love each of them.  I also have Chinese, Mexican and yes white relatives.  I love them all. 

Today, as I was outside doing yard work, a different perspective hit me, and hit me hard.  After watching George’s murder video that made me vomit, after reading and listening to friends, blogs and media, after praying and crying out, a perspective hit me that I have not yet read about or heard anywhere.  So here I am to write about it.  I am not a fan of writing.  I love to read, but when it comes to putting my heart and thoughts on paper I struggle.  Even though I struggle, I feel that this perspective must be written.  If no one reads it but me, the one typing, that is ok; at least this point of view will be out there somewhere.  These words are not to belittle or change what is already being said out there on social media; it is simply to add an additional layer.  This is the viewpoint I imagine George Floyd is having TODAY. 

While I was mowing my yard I was praying for George’s family and friends.  I was crying for their pain.  And when I ran out of words I asked God if He would speak to me.  Then I was silent.  I kept mowing in the silence and I heard what I would think is George’s voice yelling, YELLING the word, “REPENT!”  over and over again.  Loudly.  With feeling and agony.  With love and truth.  Reeeepeeent!  Long, drawn out and guttural. 

When I heard his voice saying that word with such depth I was immediately flooded with emotions of a different kind.  I realized that George, who I read was a Christian and active in his church, had stepped out of his encapsulated shell of a sinful body and has met his maker face-to-face.  George now has a different perspective from us left down here.  George has the advantage of a heavenly and eternal vantage point on what is going on down here in humanity.  And God allowed him to chose to yell ‘Repent’ into my thoughts.

I think that if George is allowed to look down into the United States and see what is being done with his name attached to it, that in some instances he would be pleased, and in other instances he would be repulsed. 

If George is the Christian Man that it is said he was, then he would be pleased at the peaceful protests, the call for change, the prayers for unity and repentance.  He would also be repulsed by the additional murders committed in his name.  He would be condemning of the dirtying of the legacy he built that is attached to his name.  He would call out the crimes committed to the cause his name has been tattooed across.

I think if we could sit and hear him speak TODAY, with his eternal perspective we would hear him say a few different things. 

One, I believe he would call for justice to be done to his murders here on earth.  After all, Able’s blood cried out from the earth in Genesis 4.  Also, the martyrs under the throne of heaven cry out, “How long O Lord must we wait until You avenge our blood?” (Paraphrased from Revelation 6:10).  The cry for justice is a noble cry, and I pray it is completed.  But I also believe that if for some ghastly reason justice is not carried out here on earth that George would hand it over to the Lord because Jesus is a Just Judge and ‘Vengeance is the Lord’s” according to Romans 12:19.  And God will most definitely avenge George Floyd if our judicial system failed.

Two, I believe that if George is the Christian Man that it is said he was that he would cry out for each and every one of us to go into our closets, close the door behind us, fall onto our knees and repent with weeping.  George would have us ask the Lord to search us and find any wicked way within us (Psalm 139).  He would have us see ourselves, as we truly are, not as how we think we are.  He would have the dark and sinister places in our hearts be revealed by God and violently ripped out so we can change the right way.  He would call for us to repent and turn from our wicked ways so that God can indeed heal our land, yes, even racially (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Three, I believe George Floyd would call out the selfish people, media, agenda makers…as tools of Satan.  I’m not talking about the good things we see going on through this, I am talking about the bad, evil and violent things we see ‘using’ George for their personal purposes.  Remember, the father of lies, was once an angel of great power in the heavenlies that attempted a coup on God and failed.  Well, he is still trying to make that coup happen and, as the man of lawlessness, he is using anything he can get his hands on for his twisted purposes filled with hatred, lies, death and sin.  If you think you follow Jesus but you think the right thing is murder, hatred or racism, then you do not follow the Jesus of the Bible, you have believed a lie and follow a counterfeit.  If you think only white people go to heaven and that Jesus is a skinhead, then you have the wrong Jesus; seek out the right Jesus.  The Christian Man named George would not want his name or his heritage associated with any of Satan’s nonsense.  Not if he built a legacy of Jesus in his life here on earth before he died.

Four, I believe George would call on the men and women of power to rise up and protect those that have had their voices taken from them.  Men and women of power, you have a great opportunity to rise up as protectors of our communities, and that includes the black communities.  You have the honor to speak when someone’s voice has been stripped from them through generations of racism and hatred.  You have the opportunity to do what is right in the face of wrong.  You have the ability to humanize people, even during the difficult times; not simply strip them of dignity when you see fit.  Put on your full armor each day and go out there WITH God and do the right thing. 

And Five, I believe George has a very new vantage point that we don’t have down here.  I believe he now sees in FULL COLOR.  And every one of those colors is brilliantly beautiful.  He sees in color, colors we haven’t even seen down here on earth yet.  And I think he sees ONE race, the human race.  And I believe he now only sees two types of people left down on earth.  Those going to heaven and those going to hell.  I believe George is crying out REPENT because he wants no one, no matter their amazingly stunning skin color, to go to hell.

So lets catch my brother, George Perry Floyd’s, perspective.  Yes, George, the man I never met is my brother.  As a fellow Christian we have the same father through Jesus and the share the same body according to 1 Corinthians 12.  Let’s fall to our knees, lets repent, and lets love each other for the beautifully woven tapestry of people that we are, and let us rise up a united army for Christ and not play into the enemy’s hands.  Lets obey Matthew 22:37-39 and Love the Lord our God with all our heart and love our neighbor as our self.

So no, this does not say everything.  It does not say most things, but it does say something.  I will continue to pray to know what my part is in all of this, and I ask that you do the same, and don't forget to be silent and listen for God to answer.  Friends and family of color, I love you, I might not always know what to do or say, but I can definitely be here to listen, pray and cry with you.  

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