“It takes not courage to be an optimist, but it takes a great deal of courage to have hope.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in “Celebrating Life”

My heart feels heavy today. I am longing for justice and mercy. I am longing to be able to do SOMETHING for refugees, and immigrants, and asylum seekers living in fear and terror.

Before you stop reading and say…Don’t make a political entry….

This isn’t political, this is about humanity. We must take political goggles off. Sometimes it’s bigger than left or right.

America, we are missing the mark.

Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Who said that? Oh, yes…God did.

“Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”—Exodus 23:9 (NIV)

I am naive and uninformed about a whole slew of things… I’m not pretending to know how to fix our immigration system. But I am sensitive to my heart and my soul and the feel of our country and how to TRY to be Kingdom people in it.

I don’t know how to fix immigration reform. I don’t know how to speed up the process of immigrants becoming citizens. I don’t know how to best care for refugees. But, I have tried and cared a lot. And many, many others have more than me.

But, we cannot let ICE continue without reform and regulation. We need reform immediately. The intimidation and the oppression MUST stop. There is a more human way to handle our fellow HUMANS. Many of which are in the process of seeking asylum from trauma in their homeland that is larger than we can grasp.

There is the political and then there is INJUSTICE. This is injustice.

I read the news, and then I stop, because I feel so helpless sometimes. But we are not without a voice.

Please, please email and call your senators and ask for ICE reform. Join refugee assistance groups. Right now is the time to call for reform…actually it’s way past time.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr

What can we do now?

We can pray. Pray for peace in our country. For oppression to cease.

We can write our Senators.

We can join organizations that help immigrants with legal counsel, with groceries, with translation, with medical care, and more…

We can love.

Have the courage to hope that change can happen and the courage to know that your voice and action matter.

You are not without a voice.

I am not without a voice.

Have Courage Dear Hearts.