todays thoughts on justice from a cafe

This afternoon Wade and I had a great 2 hour conversation with Patti Gibbons over at a cool local cafe in Nashville. We sat and talked about our lives, passions, frustrations and dreams. During the conversation Patti talked a bit about the Steps Of Justice blog in comparison to my personal blog over at philnamy. We talked about posting on our passions and stories that keep us inspired to move forward. We talked about how I tell stories and share life over and philnamy, and how that should translate at Steps Of Justice as well. It struck a chord with me for sure.

Why am I doing Steps Of Justice? Well, it is because I care about people and God cares about people. I specifically care about people who are getting robbed of their voice and their life. After our conversation I was reminded of a little girl that I saw a few years ago in Cambodia. This girl was approx. 3 or 4 years old, the same age as my daughter Emma at that time. She was laying naked on a banana leaf and being nursed by her mom as the doctors were treating the burns that she had all over her back, legs and bum. She got the burns as she was playing ball in the kitchen and bumped into a pot of boiling water. The pot spilled over onto this little girl and there she lay, moaning in pain on a cot in the hospital hallway.

My buddy Trevor and I were standing there, numb as to what we could do for this baby girl. We asked one of the nurses how long the girl had to stay in the hospital and they told us that she was going home the next day. We couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t go home, why couldn’t she stay? We found out she couldn’t stay because she didn’t have the $2.50 per day that it cost to stay in the hospital. You know what I did? Nothing. That’s right, I did nothing. I froze in horror, shock and disbelief. You know what my friend Trevor did? He reached into his wallet and pulled out $5 so that she could stay and have a chance at life. This is doing justice, this is doing something. Trevor didn’t save the world, he just did what he could, where he was at, and with whatever he had.

This is why Steps exists. To give people a chance, a way and an opportunity to do justice. To share a need and give people the tools and steps to respond to that need appropriately and in some cases immediately. Thanks for joining me in that journey. Thanks for being passionate about the things Jesus is passionate about. Thanks for doing Justice.