Tupelo: Turning Tragedy into Triumph

I wanted to find words that would give comfort, help us find our way through, help us heal in the aftermath of Mr. Shumpert's death. To help black and white alike.  Everything I considered seemed shallow in the midst of such tragedy, pain, fear, anger. 

Last night, I prayed again for words that would heal, and John 15:13 came to mind.

"Greater love hath no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 esv

As I read those words over again, I was reminded that, in some circumstances, the only One who can make sense of it, make triumph from tragedy, is Jesus. He gave His life to transform ours.

Antwun Shumpert was 37 years old when he died. He was the baby of the family, a husband and father of five children, ranging in age from 3 to 14. He was unemployed but reports reveal that he had recently been offered a job at Wal-Mart, which he didn't live to start. 

I tried to find his obituary today, but there isn't one. What's available is a brief note of his death with the comment, "arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later." I know the facts about his life because I've scoured newspaper articles to find them.

Mr. Shumpert didn't give his life willingly, but his death has revealed things I had no idea still existed in 2016. Prejudice is alive and well, on both sides of the racial divide. There's anger, fear, and hate in both races. 

It seems crazy to me. All this emotion over the amount of pigment in our skin? Really? Our hearts are the same color. Once you peel off the skin layer, there is nothing different about our bodies. Underneath that protective, divisive covering, black bodies are just like white bodies.  

We are a broken, divided people, and only the love of Jesus can heal us. Only His love can unite us, and that's exactly what Jesus intended to do.

If you've read John 17, you know that, in the Garden of Gethsemane the last night of His pre-crucifixion life, Jesus prayed for the followers who would come later. He prayed specifically that we would be one, with such love and unity that the world would recognize Him in us. 

We haven't reached that level of unity yet. We're not even close.

Now that Antwun Shumpert's death has revealed our hearts, we have three choices:

1. We can stay the same, allow the anger, fear, and hate to continue. That doesn't seem like an idea that would please Jesus, does it?

2. We can allow the anger, fear, and hate to increase, allow our divide to deepen. That's definitely not an idea that would please Jesus.

3. We can allow Antwun Shumpert's death to make a difference. We can allow the unveiling of our attitudes and prejudices  to spur us to forgiveness, acceptance, and love. We can choose to let his death bring unity. I think it's the option Jesus most wants to see, because He is love and He prayed for unity.

I've wanted to do something for the Shumpert family that conveys how sorry I am about their loss, but I haven't known what to do or how it would be received. Fear has constrained me, too. 

If I had lost my son in the way his mama lost hers, I'd want answers, but even more, I'd want to know that his life counted for something that mattered, that his death made a difference.

Antwun Shumpert's death can make a difference, if we are willing to let it. And we can. I pray we will.

Today, we can ask God to reveal our hearts the way He sees them. To reveal our prejudice, our anger, our hate, no matter what color our skin. Today, we can ask the God who loves both races equally to forgive us and bring healing and revival to our community, our state, our nation. If we ask Him, I believe He will.

So, in the name of Jesus, let's choose to be done with all this racial divisiveness. Let's look each other in the eye and greet our fellow humans, no matter our skin color. Let's talk to each other. Let's apologize for our heart attitudes and ask for forgiveness. Let's learn to love. 

When we do, God will unite us in ways we never imagined. He will bring triumph from tragedy and it will be the greatest gift imaginable.

A family grieves for the one they love. How much better it would be if, one day, they could see God's love in all of us because Mr. Shumpert's death made a difference.

Let's not waste this tragedy. Let's let the love of Christ transform us and make us one.

There's a community-wide prayer rally at BancorpSouth center tomorrow night (August 3, 2016) at 7 pm. I hope you'll join us. It's a good place for healing to begin. 

"I  do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one..." John 17:20-21 esv
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In case you missed it, here's the link to yesterday's post: The Ice Cream Church

Here's the link to the world prayer guide: The Prayer List 

#tupelo #tragedytotriumph #antwunshumpert

Last Minute Prayers of Desperation for Tupelo

I had a guest blogger scheduled. Until this minute, I planned to use that post today, but we stand in a precarious place in our little part of the world, and I am compelled to speak into our culture one more time.

I don't want to. This is a hard word, and I prefer light, and joy, and hope.

Today, though, is a day for truth. 

We, as the body of Christ in this country, deserve judgment. I am weeping as I write this, but I know it's true. I haven't been as faithful as I could have been. I haven't loved the Lord with every fiber of my being as I should. I haven't loved my neighbor as myself. If we are honest, neither have most of us who call ourselves the body of Christ.

I know this because I have spent the last fifteen weeks in the book of Hosea and it is obvious that we, as the church, are no better than Israel was at the time of their judgment. I have been overwhelmed with conviction, and still am. I'm also filled with a sense of foreboding. We could very well see the judgment we deserve today.

I do not believe our great risk comes from those who live in our town. I spent 24 hours at the prayer vigil at Temple of Compassion. Not one person there wanted another Ferguson. The only agenda was peace.

Outsiders have come into our community and they want to stir up trouble. Those outsiders have the potential to do irreparable harm. 

Only God can save us.

This is a desperate day, and we must respond with the desperation of the prophets of old, who got on their knees, faces to the ground, in the position of desperate prayer. They fasted and prayed until God moved. This is a time for us to assume that same position of humility, to fast as they fasted, and begin our intercession for this community with true, deep repentance. 

Children of God, we can do the work that must be done. This is a day for humility and turning from our sin. Even the sin we enjoy. We need to be on our knees with gut-wrenching repentance. This is a day for us to beg God for forgiveness and healing. 

We will not have another day to turn this situation around. Now is literally the last moment.

We, the people of God, stand at a precipice. Now is the time to choose life. Now is the time to choose repentance. Now is the time to choose radical, long-lasting change.

it's frightening to think about what God will do with true repentance. We'll have to spend less on ourselves and more on our neighbor. Our lifestyles will likely have to include people who are different from us. We will have to love in ways we never imagined. Give more than we thought we'd want to give.

What we don't yet understand is that, in falling to our knees in real repentance, we might not just make a difference for our town today. We might find a wave of revival sweep through our state and our nation.

That's how it works. Revival only comes after the work of repentance is done. Healing our land only comes after humility and desperate repentance.

It's worth it.

God has promised to heal our land, fill our hearts with hope and joy and love and peace. IF we will do what must be done. Pray. Humble ourselves. Repent.

Today, let's join our hearts together as we fall on our knees and pray. If you haven't seen the prayer guide for Tupelo, I'm including it below. 

This is not a day for finger-pointing. This is not a day for sham repentance. Those days are long gone. This is a day for true humility and repentance. 

Scripture is full of the stories of men and women who did exactly what we will do today. Esther. Hezekiah. Jehosophat. God spared them. Every time. If we do what must be done, we, too, will love God's response. It will be worth the changes we make, so let's do it. 

We won't be the ones who save our town, but our repentance is a critical part of what He does. It will be God alone who saves us. When God moves, if God moves, on our behalf, we must be sure to give Him all the credit. All the glory. All the honor.

Are you ready to help God save a town? He waits for our response, my brothers and sisters. Let's step up and do the hard work.  Today, a nation looks to us to lead the way.

"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 esv 
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Here's the full text of the prayer guide posted last night (7/29/16):

Our bill of rights guarantees us the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly. I celebrate those rights, and have sworn to uphold them. More than once. There is no doubt that both groups who have permits to hold demonstrations have the right to do so. 

I do not have a quarrel with the planned demonstrations, and thank God that they (and I) have those rights. I might want to hold a demonstration of my own one day, and I cherish the right to do so.

With that said, it is easy for emotions to become inflamed, and for opposing views to collide. When that happens, it is entirely possible for violence to erupt. 

I have prayed until I'm out of words about the situation in Tupelo and the potential for catastrophe during tomorrow's protests. The presence of KKK brochures in Tupelo has chilled me to the bone. 

In anticipation of the very real possibility of true evil stirring the action, I beg you to participate in a virtual prayer walk of the two areas. 

Evil is here and has the potential to take the day.

This must not be allowed to happen.

As children of God, we can access the power of the One who spoke the earth into being, spoke life into the dead man Lazarus, sustains and maintains the stars in the sky, and holds the earth in place. Our heavenly Father listens when we cry out to Him, and He is more than able to handle the events of tomorrow. 

If we believe what we say we do, we must not sit idly by and do nothing. We can do the most powerful thing of all, and if we do not, it is a travesty. Our Abba Father can help us if we will only cry out. So join with me as we approach His throne.

Before we begin, let's review the primer on Spiritual Warfare found in Ephesians 6:10-20. 

Let's begin by confessing our own sin and trying to clear our hearts of anything that might impair our prayers...

The first protest planned for tomorrow is at 10:30am and lasts until no later than 12:30pm. According to wtva.com, "the route ... will begin on Franklin Street near the BancorpSouth Arena, then down Green Street and finally down Main Street toward Fairpark." There will be a rally there after the march. 

This link will take you to a Google map of the area  to help you visualize the route. (opens in a new tab)

There are at least a dozen businesses along the route. Here's a link to a list of downtown businesses. 

Please pray:

1) That the march will proceed in an orderly fashion.
2) That peace will cover downtown Tupelo like a blanket (My friend, David Davis, suggested this, and he's right.) 
3) That not one word that might incite violence would be spoken.
4) For the protection of all protestors and all law enforcement officers.
5) That agitators from outside our town who want to cause trouble will not even be able to enter our city, whether from car trouble or other divine hinderances.
6) That none of the businesses along the route would be damaged in any way. 
7) That the loss of revenue during the time of the protest will not prove to be catastrophic for them, as many of the businesses are owned by entrepreneurs who are likely counting on no-sales-tax-weekend revenue. 
8) That the perfect love of Jesus will be demonstrated by all believers (regardless of the amount of melanin in their skin) and that it will cast out fear.
9) That no outside influence would profit from the demonstration.
10) That the Shumpert family would be surrounded by the love of God and find the perfect peace that passes all understanding, regardless of how the investigation proceeds.
11) That there will be not even one incident of violence or destruction of any kind. 
12) That God might send a cooling rain that would keep tempers down and cool any hot heads. (If that rain makes violence less likely, all the better. I'm happy with torrents of rain, as well.)

Finally, pray that no sign of the KKK will be present during this protest to inflame emotions or cause worsened fear.

The second protest is scheduled for Ballard Park and will run from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. It's sponsored by the Confederate United Patriots Society. Here's a link to their: CUPS Facebook Page

Please pray:
1) That these protestors will not collide with the Our Lives Matter protesters in any way.
2) That no families will bring children to the park to play and get caught unawares in the demonstration.
3) That the state flag will not be allowed to inflame passions any further.
4) That the KKK will not be allowed on the grounds of the park by divine intervention. (As they, too, have the right to assembly and I'm not sure they can be refused access to the park.)
5) That none of the park equipment and none of the park's facilities will be damaged in any way.
6) That the protest will proceed peacefully, that cool heads will prevail, and that nothing will be allowed to inflame passions or incite violence.
7) That peace will cover the park like a blanket.
8) That the perfect love of Jesus will cast out any fear.
9) That no alcohol that might blunt judgment will be involved.
10) For the protection of all protestors and all law enforcement officers.
11) That agitators from outside our town who want to cause trouble will not even be able to enter our city, whether from car trouble or other divine hinderances.
12) That there will be not even one incident of violence or destruction of any kind. 
13) That God might send a cooling rain that would keep tempers down and cool any hot heads. (If that rain makes violence less likely, all the better. I'm happy with torrents of rain, as well.)
14) That this demonstration will not cause further injury to the fragile peace of our area.
15) That no sign of the KKK will be present during this protest to inflame emotions or cause worsened fear.
16) That those with firearms will leave them in their vehicles, including those with concealed carry permits. (this subject has been mentioned on their FB page, but I did not see a decision from their leadership.)

Most of all, pray that God would be glorified by what HE does and will get all the credit.

We would do well to fast until tomorrow evening, when the protests are over, but we must not stop praying. The enemy of our souls must not be allowed free reign in our town. In the name of Jesus, pray as if the very existence of our town and the peace of our region depends upon it, for they very well may.

Pray, and, like Elijah, keep praying until the cloud comes and God moves.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man ACCOMPLISHES MUCH. 

James 5:16 KJV

but only if the righteous actually pray...

(here's a link to last night's prayer guide if you want to share it: Urgent Prayers For Peace in Tupelo)_

___________________

#prayforTupelo #tupelo #prayforpeace #tupelojuly30

Urgent Prayers for Peace in Tupelo

Our bill of rights guarantees us the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly. I celebrate those rights, and have sworn to uphold them. More than once. There is no doubt that both groups who have permits to hold demonstrations have the right to do so. 

I do not have a quarrel with the planned demonstrations, and thank God that they (and I) have those rights. I might want to hold a demonstration of my own one day, and I cherish the right to do so.

With that said, it is easy for emotions to become inflamed, and for opposing views to collide. When that happens, it is entirely possible for violence to erupt. 

I have prayed until I'm out of words about the situation in Tupelo and the potential for catastrophe during tomorrow's protests. The presence of KKK brochures in Tupelo has chilled me to the bone. 

In anticipation of the very real possibility of true evil stirring the action, I beg you to participate in a virtual prayer walk of the two areas. 

Evil is here and has the potential to take the day.

This must not be allowed to happen.

As children of God, we can access the power of the One who spoke the earth into being, spoke life into the dead man Lazarus, sustains and maintains the stars in the sky, and holds the earth in place. Our heavenly Father listens when we cry out to Him, and He is more than able to handle the events of tomorrow. 

If we believe what we say we do, we must not sit idly by and do nothing. We can do the most powerful thing of all, and if we do not, it is a travesty. Our Abba Father can help us if we will only cry out. So join with me as we approach His throne.

Before we begin, let's review the primer on Spiritual Warfare found in Ephesians 6:10-20. 

Let's begin by confessing our own sin and trying to clear our hearts of anything that might impair our prayers...

The first protest planned for tomorrow is at 10:30am and lasts until no later than 12:30pm. According to wtva.com, "the route ... will begin on Franklin Street near the BancorpSouth Arena, then down Green Street and finally down Main Street toward Fairpark." There will be a rally there after the march. 

This link will take you to a Google map of the area  to help you visualize the route. (opens in a new tab)

There are at least a dozen businesses along the route. Here's a link to a list of downtown businesses. 

Please pray:

1) That the march will proceed in an orderly fashion.
2) That peace will cover downtown Tupelo like a blanket (My friend, David Davis, suggested this, and he's right.) 
3) That not one word that might incite violence would be spoken.
4) For the protection of all protestors and all law enforcement officers.
5) That agitators from outside our town who want to cause trouble will not even be able to enter our city, whether from car trouble or other divine hinderances.
6) That none of the businesses along the route would be damaged in any way. 
7) That the loss of revenue during the time of the protest will not prove to be catastrophic for them, as many of the businesses are owned by entrepreneurs who are likely counting on no-sales-tax-weekend revenue. 
8) That the perfect love of Jesus will be demonstrated by all believers (regardless of the amount of melanin in their skin) and that it will cast out fear.
9) That no outside influence would profit from the demonstration.
10) That the Shumpert family would be surrounded by the love of God and find the perfect peace that passes all understanding, regardless of how the investigation proceeds.
11) That there will be not even one incident of violence or destruction of any kind. 
12) That God might send a cooling rain that would keep tempers down and cool any hot heads. (If that rain makes violence less likely, all the better. I'm happy with torrents of rain, as well.)

Finally, pray that no sign of the KKK will be present during this protest to inflame emotions or cause worsened fear.

The second protest is scheduled for Ballard Park and will run from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. It's sponsored by the Confederate United Patriots Society. Here's a link to their: CUPS Facebook Page

Please pray:
1) That these protestors will not collide with the Our Lives Matter protesters in any way.
2) That no families will bring children to the park to play and get caught unawares in the demonstration.
3) That the state flag will not be allowed to inflame passions any further.
4) That the KKK will not be allowed on the grounds of the park by divine intervention. (As they, too, have the right to assembly and I'm not sure they can be refused access to the park.)
5) That none of the park equipment and none of the park's facilities will be damaged in any way.
6) That the protest will proceed peacefully, that cool heads will prevail, and that nothing will be allowed to inflame passions or incite violence.
7) That peace will cover the park like a blanket.
8) That the perfect love of Jesus will cast out any fear.
9) That no alcohol that might blunt judgment will be involved.
10) For the protection of all protestors and all law enforcement officers.
11) That agitators from outside our town who want to cause trouble will not even be able to enter our city, whether from car trouble or other divine hinderances.
12) That there will be not even one incident of violence or destruction of any kind. 
13) That God might send a cooling rain that would keep tempers down and cool any hot heads. (If that rain makes violence less likely, all the better. I'm happy with torrents of rain, as well.)
14) That this demonstration will not cause further injury to the fragile peace of our area.
15) That no sign of the KKK will be present during this protest to inflame emotions or cause worsened fear.
16) That those with firearms will leave them in their vehicles, including those with concealed carry permits. (this subject has been mentioned on their FB page, but I did not see a decision from their leadership.)

Most of all, pray that God would be glorified by what HE does and will get all the credit.

We would do well to fast until tomorrow evening, when the protests are over, but we must not stop praying. The enemy of our souls must not be allowed free reign in our town. In the name of Jesus, pray as if the very existence of our town and the peace of our region depends upon it, for they very well may.

Pray, and, like Elijah, keep praying until the cloud comes and God moves.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man ACCOMPLISHES MUCH. 

James 5:16 KJV

but only if the righteous actually pray...

____________________

#prayforTupelo #tupelo #prayforpeace #tupelojuly30