Making a Difference

Federal agents swooped in and took my neighbor from his workplace.

It was the middle of the day. He wasn’t expecting it. His girlfriend and children weren’t sure what to do or how to contact him. 

He sat in prison for eight months before his federal trial. It seemed unjust, unconstitutional, unamerican. 

But I was glad. I wanted them to come take him. I was the confidante of several children he had sexually abused. 

Here’s a separate scene: A friend of mine lay on the concrete floor of a prison weeping, having been picked up by federal agents.

They wouldn’t let her go to her house to pick up any clothes, and she angrily demanded that they fill her prescriptions. Her small child was uncared for, and she had been abused. 

She lost custody of her son and died only a few hours after I sat with her in jail.

The agents seemed so heartless, so deaf to her cries for help. But I was glad she had been brought in out of the cold, out of the reach of her own addictions that killed her.

Another scenario: Three of my friends sank lower and lower into drug addiction and despair. They became involved with local drug rings. Soon, they were captured by what is locally referred to as “the Mexican Mafia,” illegal drug cartels that target reservations because of confusion resulting from the jurisdictional overlap. 

One was trafficked to Washington State, held against her will, sold again and again for money or drugs or both.

One helped her traffickers traffic other victims, identifying and selling many others, including children, into lifetimes of bondage.

One died of a drug overdose while forced to engage in prostitution in another city.

And I wondered, where are the federal agents? Why don’t they do something about these illegal immigrants who use and abuse people I love? Later, I read in the paper about a huge Operation they had done that effectively put an end to the Mexican Mafia as we knew it in my area, and I was glad when I thought of the lives that would be saved as a result.

There have been many times I’ve been disgusted with Federal agents, and there have been many more I’ve been grieved by humanity in general. The streets are a mess- here in my town, in Minneapolis, MN, and yes, in your city too. 

There are times when corrupt agents hurt good people. There are times when evil people kill good agents. There are times when we wonder what we can do to make a difference.

If I used a whistle and warned the man in the first scenario that the FBI was coming, would I have been on the side of justice? The children he was abusing would have continued to suffer.

If I banged on the jail door with both fists (which I did) and tried to alert the Federal officers’ attention to the fact that one of the inmates was dying, would I have been telling them something they didn’t already know? (They assured me they did.) Cirrhosis would have run its course inside the jail as well as outside.  

If I had taken meals to the women held by traffickers or taken meals to the traffickers themselves, would it have made a difference? (I can testify that it doesn’t change their behavior.) If I had tipped off the FBI and led them to the dens of iniquity, would the Operation have worked any swifter to liberate my friends? Or would it have rescued them only to throw them back into the jaws of addiction?

What can we do to make a difference- both for the agents who serve our communities everyday by putting their lives on the line to uphold the law and insure public safety and for the downtrodden who suffer from being strangers, being addicted, being poor, or being neglected or abused?

Whistles, meals, warnings, interference, and witness testimony do not bear fruit for the Gospel. Even justice in the court of law cannot atone for innocence stolen, life lost, souls damaged.

Do you really want to make a difference? Then, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He came and bled and died because He loved this old world. He rose again because only He has the power to give eternal life to all who come to Him. 

You can share this with a Federal Agent. You can share it with both the prostitute and pimp. You can share it with the dying woman and the heartless jailer. You can share it with the abused child and her abuser. The Gospel is for all, and it is the only thing that bears fruit enough to make a difference, not just now, but for all time.

The Gospel bears hope, joy, peace, love, kindness, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control in the heart of anyone who accepts it. We all need to be made different, and when we share it, that’s what makes a difference.