Perspective

Jackie and I are out driving and some heavy fog has set in.  I say to my dear wife; "How much visibility do you think we have here?  A quarter mile, maybe a half mile?"  She answers that it is perhaps a half mile. We continue on in silence for another minute until Jackie breaks the quiet. "Well, I guess I was wrong. We've driven over a mile and I can still see for maybe a half mile!"

This is how you entertain yourselves after over 42 years of marriage. Sometimes reality is all a matter of perspective.

I had two interesting clients this morning, both with an African connection.  One was a lady who had come here from Rwanda.  She spoke passable English but her 21 year old son was helping her out with a few words during our parking lot portion of the test. After Basilissa passes that part we no longer need her son for the drive so he wishes his mother "Bon chance".  Recognizing the French phrase for "good luck" I say out loud; "Oh, bon chance!" which Basilissa interprets as me also wishing her good luck and so she tells me thank you.

"So you speak French!" she says excitedly and I respond that no, I don't speak French but that I did understand what her son said. Not having learned my lesson we are about to leave the parking lot and I give the instruction to turn right at the approaching street, but because I had someone from France a week or two ago and remembered the French word for right I added, "turn right, dwot."

At this point Basilissa almost demands; "What is your name?" and I tell her "LaBarge" and apparently no longer believing that I really don't speak French she blurts out a couple paragraphs to me in French. I smile sheepishly and from then on just speak English, even when we are nearing our first left turn and I want to yell out in the worse way, "goosh".

Later on in the test I ask Basilissa if her parents are with her or still back in Rwanda. Sadly she tells me that both parents, along with 20 other family members "passed away during the genocide".  I tell her I am very sorry and we go on to talk about the Michigan weather and she tells me that for her and her son the cold has been very difficult to adjust to but that her younger son not only loves the cold but complains when it gets too hot.  She then goes on to say; "And the schools are very good here. A little cold is a good trade for not having to worry about someone killing you."

My next client Samuel was a college student whose parents were missionaries for the last 20 years in Kenya. His mother runs a village medical dispensary there and his father does things like teaching how to build wells for clean water and they both share the gospel. Things for them are much easier now than they were 20 years ago when his parents hacked their way with machetes 20 miles into the wilderness to get to the village they reside in now.

"Wanting to live just like the locals do for the first 10 years our home was a corrugated metal shack only a little bigger than 10' x 10'. This was fine but eventually other tribes learned that there were white people living in our village and white people must be rich so every few months an outsider would be traveling through and find our hut and then rob us. Our village leaders decided that they really needed to build us a brick home for safety purposes."

Samuel goes on to tell me that although there are a couple of dominate ethnic tribes there are also over 1000 different tribal groups in Kenya and because a lot of them don't get along in parts of the country things can get quite violent. His family for now is lucky because they are far enough back in the bush to avoid most of the trouble.

Last week I tested an African American lady who was in her fifties. Carmen was dressed very nice, wore bright purple lipstick, and gave me a look when she drove up that said; "Don't you be messing with me boy!" I figured she was probably just a little nervous but with everything that had just happened with Ferguson and New York and all I wasn't totally sure. So I decided that my secondary goal (the primary goal would be to conduct a good driving test) would be to make Carmen laugh.

I smiled and asked Carmen if she was a little nervous and she glares at me and says; "I suppose so."  That didn't break the ice. As we are driving I ask Carmen if she is from the area and she informs me that she moved here the last year from Detroit.  "Have you found a good church yet?" I ask. Carmen perks up and tells me that she has a brother-in-law who pastors a small church and that she has really been enjoying it there.

This leads me to share that I have a son-in-law who is a pastor. I tell Carmen that a couple of weeks ago he was preaching and said that his favorite holiday was Thanksgiving because with all the other holidays like Christmas and Easter there is so much hustle bustle and other things to do but Thanksgiving is not like that and is so much more relaxing. Someone then yells out from the congregation; "You must not be a woman!" Suddenly Carmen gets a great big smile and says; "That's right. I be up all night long before, just cooking and cooking and then cooking all the next day and all the men folk want to do is watch football and eat and eat and then moan about how full they is and then eat some more."

Now we are buddies. Carmen passes the test and thanks me for being so nice and I am amazed at how complicated and yet how simple life can be.

There is so much hate in this world. I am convinced that there are evil spirits that promote racial hatred and hatred between people groups and religions and hatred even between men of good will who should otherwise call themselves brothers. Anytime one group demeans another group, or a person demeans another person for some type of perceived gain, that is a spiritual problem.

Anytime there is a root of bitterness or feelings of inferiority which blind a person to what reality is, that is a spiritual problem. Anytime there are breakdowns in family structures which will almost always lead to income and opportunity disparities, that is not primarily an economic problem. It is foremost a spiritual problem.

The evil one wants to destroy societies. He wants to enslave people and has a thousand ways to do so. He is called the lawless one, the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning.

But we have a heavenly Father who loves us. He sent His only Son Jesus to die for us so that we might be free. Free from the condemnation and enslavement's of sin. Free from the root of bitterness. Free from all the voices that say we are not worthy. Free from living a life filled with hate.

My perspective is that nothing will change in our society unless hearts are changed and evil spirits are driven out so that true healing can begin. Lord, give us your perspective!