Shalom

I learned what shalom meant a few years ago during a mission trip to Argentine District in Kansas City. They explained that shalom was used to explain the garden of Eden. It meant perfect. After sin, shalom was broken. We now live in a world full of sadness, pain, lost souls, false fulfillment, disease, and so on. The list never ends, sin has affected every aspect of our lives making it incapable for us to have pure relationship, pure actions, and pure thoughts. We are prone to wander from truth.

The good news is that Jesus came to restore shalom. His work was started when he died for us and gave us a way to be saved from sin. But we still live in a sinful world and we are still prone to sin. But one day he will come again, and everything bad will be gone. We will live in shalom again. Shalom more detailed means completeness, peace, rest, harmony, health, and perfectness. Knowing Jesus gives us a taste of shalom that we will one day experience in its fullness.

I love this idea of God restoring shalom. It's my main encouragement when I watch the news and hear about all the horrible things in our world because of sin. I remember that God is good and he will restore us. That doesn't mean I should throw my hands in the air and let God restore the world when he wants to. I am called to restore brokenness as best I can. 

Today in class we talked about how we don't live in a post racial society. It broke my heart to see how mistaken we are. One day God is gonna fix this. I look forward to that day. Here are some links and videos to what I saw in class today. It is not an easy problem to fix, but being ignorant to it certainly won't help.

I stole this from wired.com. They had nearly 20 maps showing how segregated our cities are. Blue dots are Whites, green dots are African Americans, red dots are Asians, orange dots are Latino, others are brown. Probably the most extreme example would be Detroit, pictured below.

Here is Atlantas map below.

I was shocked that these were not isolated cases. Clusters of whites and blacks is common across the US. Racism is built into the foundations of our society. I have never noticed it because I've never seen it. I'm surrounded by middle and high class white families, so I don't see racism. But the few African Americans in my neighborhood, or my elementary school, see racism. It's also not circumstance that many more African Americans live in lower income areas in crappier houses. I don't think they choose it as much as it's forced upon them.

Here's an example of how blacks and whites are treated differently as children. The article with it is very good also, so here is the article link with the videos. A white 7 year old and a black 7 year old both took their mom or grandmas car for a joy ride. But the white kid gets brought on the Today show and his actions are explained away as being a typical boy. The black kid has internalized the stereotypes that have been placed on him and responds differently. But this doesn't explain the cops different reactions between the two boys. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/22/media-kids-racial-stereotypes_n_3624740.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Watch this! This video shows a white guy, a black guy, and a pretty girl each trying to steal a bike in public while admitting to what they're doing. See the different reactions!

http://www.upworthy.com/know-anyone-that-thinks-racial-profiling-is-exaggerated-watch-this-and-tell-me-when-your-jaw-drops-2

He showed us more research on the presence of racism. I don't know if this was as convincing coming from me. But I've been convinced over the last year and a half of sociology classes. These are things to at least be aware of. This gets me more excited for when God will restore all that's broken so we can live within shalom again.