Achuckallen

Instigating Better

Southern Border

Meanwhile, In the Middle of the Yucatán

by

I spent the last few days in Ichmul and Chikindzonot. Those are not prisons. They are quaint villages in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula. I’ve traveled to these villages for several years with my good friend, Mauricio Menesses. Mauricio and his wife, Laura, started a mission work in Ichmul that is so fascinating. These villages and several more like them have a few thousand people each. Most families in the villages do not have floors in their thatch-roof homes. Most do not have running water, and many have no power. Windows are rare; families often share their homes with goats, pigs, and chickens. In short, these are desperately poor folks.

AND YET, they are gracious, kind, welcoming, and gracious. They have problems, but they proved something to me again this week. They proved that you can be at peace with little or much. They are dirt-poor yet keep what they have as clean as possible. They work hard with what they have. They have no healthcare, doctors, air conditioning, or entertainment. No WiFi, cable, or restaurants. They are predominately Mayan people with an odd mixture of faith. There is either a zero-faith system or a mix of witchcraft and catholicism. Clean water and food security is a massive challenge. They walk everywhere. A few folks have little scooters or bikes, but most of these kind folks never wander past a few miles from where they were born.

My purpose in traveling to Yucatán is to bring fresh, clean water, food, and faith to this forgotten part of the world. The goal is to build twenty water wells, twenty churches, twenty community gathering spots, food distribution systems, and meaningful work in each village. I know – like I need one more thing to do. But if you could see these folks, you would be amazed at their resiliency. Somehow, they keep going. They keep striving. They keep caring for their children and sweeping their dirt floors.

But all of that isn’t why I am writing today. I’m writing to convey a simple lesson I keep learning from the women, men, and children in these little villages.

THEY ARE GRACIOUS, KIND, WELCOMING, ACCEPTING, AND GENEROUS…AND HAPPY!

Every home that I have visited over the last few years has welcomed me into their homes without reservation. They share what they have. They are friendly. They are willing to accept you as you are without any judgment or comparison. I’m not sure how many homes I have been in, but I’ve easily been in dozens of homes. In each home, I’ve offered three things. I’ve prayed with the entire family. I’ve offered a listening ear and the story of Jesus and His love for them. In every single home, men and women have chosen to accept Jesus as their gift from a loving God. They have discovered a community of faith. Learned to worship together and enjoy the fellowship of a loving church led by men and women just like them!

Can you imagine what would happen if those folks were to knock on your door one day? When you saw their dirty faces, darkened, leathered faces on Ring doorbell cameras,
would you call the cops or open your home to them?
Would you share your food, drink, and living room, even for a few minutes?

That’s okay. I’m not sure that I would, either. Truth.

But these people didn’t shut me down. They didn’t call the cops. They didn’t give me a lecture. They never turned me away. They welcomed me and shared everything they had. And in that small gesture, they proved Paul’s point in the New Testament. He said, “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” But did you know that the precursor to that statement is key to the promise given?
Paul wrote these words…

Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Maybe we folks, here in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, have chosen to forget the concept of contentment and exchanged it for greed, selfishness, barbed-wire fences, and our never-ending fight for our rights. Maybe instead of our rights, likes, friends, followers, and platforms, we need to slow this insane pace of life down a bit. We need to know our neighbors and talk with our family. I think we can learn a lesson from the Mayan Yucatán people. Be content with little or with much. Be generous with what we have. Be grateful for what we have instead of pouting and rioting over what we wish we had.

We live in a whacked-out, messed-up world. We live in a radically imperfect nation. But we are more than blessed people. We have problems, but we have problems that are, for the most part, self-inflicted!

Would you be willing to join me in starting each day through the end of July by jotting down two things you are grateful for? Would you be willing to consider opening your home to a neighbor? Would you hold your family tight and thank God for them? AND would you consider praying for the people in the twenty villages that we are attempting to love, serve, and share well?

Please do not read this and assume that I’m doing something special. I am not! I am a blessed man with the privilege of representing you and many more folks like you with the people of Yucatán. Friends, we must learn the secret of how we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. And that key is learning to be content with little or with much. Starting with me and my selfish attitude. You and your selfish attitude can join me in this contentment – and gratitude!

Thanks for reading my article today.

Go in Peace,
Chuck

Why UVALDE Still Matters

by

On May 24, 2022, evil stepped into Robb Elementary School and took the lives of 19 children and two teachers. Pure evil is the best way to define the senseless massacre of these precious children. I’ve been to Uvalde five times since the shooting, and each time I return, I’m reminded that evil could show up at almost any school in America and do the same thing. In most of the United States, measures have been put in place to make a similar attack much more difficult. I say more difficult because Uvalde was, and is so unique.

After reading the Texas Department of Public Safety’s final report regarding the shooting, I was struck by the systemic failure at every level. The most glaring failure wasn’t the police, school, or city, or leaders. The most glaring failure was a society that left a dirt-poor little city to fend for itself. Uvalde is a border town in Texas, and as such, it has a blend of primarily Latino citizens and blue-collared men and women. These are some of the most gracious, loving people I have ever been around. But let’s face it, in the hustle of this world, a little town like Uvalde is left in the dust. Yes, there were failures, but at the end of the day, you can trace every failure back to the fact that Uvalde is a city that nobody cared about. That is until they were the headline of the week in May 2022.

Like most things in America, a crisis happens, and the news anchors show up in droves. The cameras seek the worst possible story with the most graphic and accommodating video. They stay for a few days, then chase the next crisis, like tornado chasers in Kansas. Then a few weeks go by, and they descend again on the crisis area with reports of who is at fault and videos of people leaving courthouses trying to cover their faces. Then poof! They’re off again. After the media and political circus leave, the poor people of the crisis are left to sort out life as the rest of the world moves on.

But how do you move on from children shot so many times with high-powered ammunition that were only recognized by DNA results? How do you move on from the finger-pointing and media onslaught when you are a small city with limited resources and an entire world looking for your faults?

I’m jaded, I guess. I fell in love with this little city and its people. I found friends who share the common ground of decency, honor, integrity, and love. I’ve built lasting, meaningful relationships with leaders who care deeply about Uvalde’s future. I’ve seen the hurt up close, and I’ve felt people’s skepticism when you say you’ll be back with more help. Each time I can feel their stare as you say, “see you next time.” That stare is the one that burns into your soul the feeling that they’ve been lied to, over-promised, and under-delivered for decades. That is a systemic failure. As political leaders are fond of saying these days – full stop!

Enter Crossroads Academy. A school for dropouts. Last week, a team from Sugar Hill Church brought Christmas for about 160 kids – and their kids – and their parents. You read that correctly. Many of these kids dropped out of school and have their own kids. Hence the dropping out. They get on a bus from where they are sofa-surfing with their little ones and drop the babies off at childcare, go to school, work, and then to their kiddos. If you think it must be hard, you cannot imagine their stories.

One little girl is back in school and attended our party. She opened a box of diapers and just started weeping. She said, “I haven’t had a Christmas present since I was eight years old.” Then she learned that the diapers were essential and that she had a new set of clothes, shoes, and a purse just for her. And her baby had plenty as well. One young man graduated while our team was on the ground, and he is ready to contribute to making Uvalde stronger. One teacher was trying to find a student to give a gift to and was instructed that the gift was for her. She said, “nobody ever does anything for us.” The overwhelming question was this, “why are you all doing this?” The answer? Jesus said, LOVE ONE ANOTHER. He said that if we serve the least of these, we are actually serving Him.

Uvalde matters because the political circus left town and couldn’t care less. The media circus left town and won’t return unless something horrific happens. Nobody cares about the repaired buildings, new grounds, courts, and facilities provided in the wake of the massacre, but we should care. The government has proven that they cannot or will not step in to make a big deal about Uvalde unless it fits their political narrative – either way.

That is why a church from Sugar Hill, Georgia, has been making good on promises to Uvalde, Texas. Because the people that claim to love Jesus must act on that love and make the world a more loving, grace-filled place. Uvalde matters because these kids matter. The educators, administrators, counselors, and coaches matter. Uvalde matters! I’ve invited more than a dozen churches to participate in the work in Uvalde. I haven’t asked them for a dime, just people and prayer. Not a single church has stepped into the fray as of yet. Please hear me. I know that every church isn’t equipped to go and do this work, and not every church should. But friends, whether it is Uvalde or Sugar Hill, we must care enough to serve hurting people! Uvalde matters because those folks need to know that America doesn’t see them as a newsreel but as people that God loves. Uvalde matters because they represent all of us. We are all potentially one day away from needing the rest of America to help.

I’m honored to be a small part of rebuilding Uvalde, and I thank God for the men and women that are serving in the schools of Uvalde, Texas. They are serving in some really difficult seasons and are champions. The champions that are the faculty of Crossroads Academy are some of my favorite people on the planet, and I pray for them each morning that God would infuse them with strength, wisdom and power.

Uvalde matters because people matter. God’s ultimate purpose is people. The redemption of mankind. If you are desirous to be a part of God’s plan for your life, you, too, will be about people. That’s why Uvalde matters.

Chuck

CAPTAIN COMPASSION

by

I have learned to love the word COMPASSION.
Unfortunately, I haven’t always loved it. I spent a great deal of my life with a self-filled condition that locked my heart from experiencing compassion I’m not proud of it. I am embarrassed of that truth During a a difficult season people came and helped me with acts of compassion that changed my life.

Compassion is defined as the recognition of another’s suffering
and a desire to alleviate that suffering  

My friend Julie Homrich, a psychotherapist, and I record a weekly podcast in which we merge faith and psychology In our most recent recording, we had a conversation about compassion Here are a few thoughts that she shared on this week’s Positive Talk Podcast:

“If you’re someone who, like me, heard about the shooting at Robb Elementary and felt both overwhelmed and frozen at first, I want to normalize that for a moment.
We talk a lot on this podcast about the fight/flight/freeze response, which happens whenever our nervous system feels threatened. So if you’re watching media coverage about a school shooting and you have a child of any age that attends a school— that feels threatening, right? Your nervous system is responding appropriately for that moment. The challenge is that many of us get STUCK in that nervous system response and don’t move THROUGH it. This keeps us in this low-level state of fear and anxiety instead of moving through that initial response into a state of compassion which leads to action I think many of our listeners can relate to this… after something tragic like that happens we just stay in this state of suppressed anxiety and don’t know what to do with it.”

POSITIVE TALK PODCAST: merging faith & psychology

I’ll bet that we have all been there. Friends, we have been created with an internal drive to move from feeling to action. That is why I have learned how critical it is to allow your soul to put this internal feeling of compassion into external action.
Again, Julie Homrich has a fresh thought on this compassion we feel:

“Once we notice a need or see a crisis like what happened at Robb elementary, an interesting thing happens in the brain. Our threat circuitry kicks in and up. We call it, empathetic distress, here we start to feel a bit of pain for someone else. Unfortunately, many of us get stuck in empathetic distress. When research scientists have studied compassion, they find that this process unfolds as we are moved to compassion, but that process can collapse at different points along the way.

Staying stuck in empathetic distress is not only unhelpful for society but it isn’t good for us either— we continue to walk around feeling anxious with no alleviation of that distress by avoiding and
not acting with compassion.

“Why do we do this? Well, several things can collapse the compassion process. We may minimize the crisis with the thought that it’s not really that bad. We might catastrophize the crisis, in that there is nothing I can do to help. We may have biases that keep us from engaging or we may begin to blame other people, or a lack of mental health accessibility or guns, or the president. Blaming is our mind’s way of shifting responsibility off of us because we either don’t know what to do or we do not think we can do about that. If you are prone to blame, recognize that is most often an attempt to shift responsibility. One remedy is to pause and ask yourself, “I cannot change them but what is my responsibility – right now at this moment?”

Please read these words closely, ; PUTTING COMPASSION INTO ACTION IS VERY GOOD FOR OUR MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, AND PHYSICAL HEALTH Again, my friend Julie offers these thoughts:

“God created our bodies to operate
at their best when we are showing compassion”

Get this, compassion is good for the hearts of those we serve, but it is GOOD for OUR hearts as well. Our bodies produce a hormone called oxytocin. When we show compassion, our physical hearts have built-in receptors for oxytocin. When oxytocin levels are high (when we are feeling and experiencing compassion), our heart receptors take in the oxytocin. Oxytocin helps our heart cells regenerate and heal from the damage that may have occurred through our lifestyle or even genetics. Oxytocin also serves as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It’s called the cuddle hormone because it is released by touch and helps us feel connected to whatever is right in front of us.” That is just one more way in which we can see a godly view of life connected with a psychological view of life.

“In compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there.”

– Karen Armstrong

All of that leads me to the story I want to share with you today.

In my recent trips to Uvalde, Texas, I have met many extraordinary people, but one man has activated my compassion into action. Now and then, we meet someone that lights us up and moves our hearts toward being a better human. I met that guy in Uvalde.

Dr. Hector Lopez grew up in Uvalde, Texas. While in high school he, like many young Hispanic kids, dropped out of school to earn a living. While experiencing life as a high school dropout, his family moved to Chicago, where he went back to school, completed his high school degree, and then went on to college and earned his doctorate.

Dr. Lopez moved his family to Uvalde to take on a compassion-led task. He took on building and running a high school that serves students that once were dropouts.

That may not have registered with you, so allow me to state that again. A man with an earned Ph.D. voluntarily chose to serve as a principal of a “dropout high school.”

Crossroads High School serves kids that have not only previously dropped out of school, but many of them dropped out to raise their own kids. As a result of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, and the ensuing plans to demolish that school building, Crossroads was displaced to a maintenance facility. To say that these high school kids have nothing is a vast understatement – They have nothing, but the love of a principal and his team.

“Give Compassion: Every day the average person fights epic battles never told just to survive.” 

– Ken Poirot

When I first met Dr. Lopez, I was amazed at his deep love for “his kids,” and “his faculty.” He could be a professor at a prestigious university, but chose to give of himself, and serve hundreds of kids over the past five years at Crossroads. He welcomed me into his world and quickly conveyed that he didn’t want to be a burden as so many other schools needed help as well, but one more time – they have nothing!

The parking lot is tiny and weed-filled. The grass, what little there is, was 2 feet high and completely unkempt. The three mobile units have a great lack of paint, and what paint still remains is peeling. The soffit is half attached and most of the siding is rotten.

I don’t say all of this to ask you to do anything. I am telling you this story to remind you what everyday people can do to make a radical difference. When Dr. Lopez’s story was told, and our team was in a position to hear it, compassion moved to action. When Julie unpacked this in the podcast, she offered this wisdom:

“Compassionate people are some of the grittiest, toughest, and most determined people because they are willing to enter into empathetic distress and move through it. To move beyond fear and uncertainty and self-doubt, into action. Brain studies of those experiencing compassion show that there are multiple areas of the brain being activated when someone feels compassion- there’s an area of distress but there’s also the area of hope – activated. When you are experiencing compassion and have that sense of connection to suffering, either your own or someone else’s, we see a very strong neural response connected to hope.” Therefore, ask yourself this question:

“Do I want to live an easy life
without deeper purpose
or do I want to take the risk to enter into a state of compassion and experience the depths of hope and
the connection that comes with that risk?“

As for me, I never feel more alive than when I am moved beyond the feeling of compassion, into the action of compassion. As I have spent time in and around Uvalde, I’ve been moved to act on compassion. Being around Dr. Lopez, I have been encouraged and my courage has been bolstered around this humble, gracious leader. Here is the real question. What is it that has occurred in your life that has moved you to compassion lately? If nothing is moving you to compassion, ask yourself these two questions:

  1. Am I (like Chuck has been) too self-absorbed to even sense compassion?
  2. Am I so busy with the natural flow of life that I cannot stop long enough to feel any compassion?

If the answer to either of those questions is even close to a yes, then you are literally robbing yourself of personal health, peace, and courage. You are most likely robbing yourself of emotional and physical healing. And you are definitely robbing yourself of the blessings that are yours when you draw near folks that are brokenhearted. God says that He draws near the brokenhearted and I want to be near God, don’t you? The closer I am to the Divine, the closer I am to His blessings. Put all of this together and who knows?

Maybe you, like Dr. Hector Lopez are the next in line to serve others in the role of Captain Compassion!

I’m certain that Dr. Lopez will someday read this and be amused that anyone might consider him in such a way. He is a brilliant man, wrapped in a lot of humility. That seems to be the very genesis of compassion – HUMILITY. And that leads us back to the two questions asked earlier.

Go in Peace, Chuck

4 Lessons from Uvalde

by

AChuckAllen | August 10, 2022

I’ve spent seven of the past fifteen days in Uvalde and DelRio, Texas. In that time, I have learned so much about the incredible people of Uvalde and America, the Beautiful. Some of what I have learned has shaken me to the core. But, on the other hand, some of what I have learned reminds me of what I most likely already knew.

Beyond the lessons learned, this I know. The evil that transpired at Robb Elementary School is a tangible, grizzly reminder that we live in a desperately broken world. That broken world needs healing, hope, and direction. Given the present, recent and hopeful candidates slated or proven, we are in dire straights.

That isn’t to say that the folks in power and those that desire to be in control are incompetent – well, maybe a bit incompetent – but instead, they have their eyes on the wrong target. The political powers that be are so consumed with the lust for power, vengeance, and fame that serving the people of America has gone awash in a sea full of bull.

I’ll keep saying it. We have plenty of competent people and leaders in these United States, but until we break this stalemate of a two-party system, we will get more of what we have tolerated over the past thirty years. Partisan bickering, name-calling, stagnation, and foolishness. All the while, evil runs rampant in this great land’s cities, towns, and countrysides.

The lessons I have learned while in Uvalde are simple. But should we apply them, with a heavy dose of common sense, America can right the ship.

LESSON ONE

Stop Pointing Fingers and choose to correct the problems. Maybe you are a finger pointer. I once was. It’s so stinking easy to waste sideways energy on blaming others. I know we should hold one another accountable, but most of us must choose to fix problems rather than blame. In Uvalde, those families and the schools, hospitals, law enforcement, and churches don’t need one more person or group fixing blame. They are hurting emotionally, mentally, physically, and exhausted from the desperate trauma thrust upon them due to evil. So if you want to help save this great land, get off the blame train and get on the serving others express line. It’s interesting how many people told me that there was very little that could be done in Uvalde. That has not been my experience at all. They have been open and forthright about their needs when I have asked educators, law enforcement, city employees, and other locals. Maybe we need to stop assuming that we know what everyone needs and start asking how we should help.
LESSON NUMBER ONE IS:
SET YOUR PRIDE AND ASSUMPTIONS DOWN AND ASK, THEN LISTEN. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

LESSON TWO

You name the culture, and I’ll show you that we all have the same basic desires. You pick the color: Black, Brown, White, and I’ll show you our commonalities. We have far more significant similarities than we have differences. The challenge is that we seem to focus on the differences. Most of the community I’ve been serving in Uvalde are Brown folks. They are hard-working Americans with the same desires I have in my hometown. They want peace in their town. They want jobs to provide for their families. They want a fair justice system. These folks want what we all want. They want kind neighbors, honest law enforcement, caring churches, and leaders who put others first. They want safety at their kid’s schools and an opportunity to succeed. All of these things are what America has been built upon. But greed, corruption, and arrogant, self-righteous leaders on both sides of the aisle have depleted us of these most precious commodities. So pick your vote carefully, and be willing to be part of the solution.
LESSON NUMBER TWO IS:
RECOGNIZE WHAT YOU DESIRE MOST IN THIS LIFE, THEN STRIVE TO BRING THAT GOOD TO THE WORLD. EVERY SINGLE HUMAN CAN ADD TO THE GOOD OR THE EVIL. Which will it be for you?

LESSON THREE

This one is at the core of the American Dream. It doesn’t take much to help. It just takes all of us doing our part of the job. Civil service, ministry, education, business, or politics. Each day, you can choose to do at least one thing to make your part of the world better. Not your version of the world, but our version of a better world. The common good, the greater good, whatever you call it. But lay your head on the pillow each night, knowing that you have done your part of our job.
LESSON NUMBER THREE IS SIMPLE:
DO YOUR PART OF OUR JOB AND MAKE YOUR PART OF THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

LESSON FOUR

You all are already checking out on me. I seem to know this truth as I write these words. So hang in there; this is the good part. Lesson four is something tangible. Do good where it is needed. The Bible teaches that we are a blessed people; better translated, we are happy people when we act and react more like Jesus.

In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapter 5, we find that He starts with the “Beatitudes.” In other words, Jesus is teaching us His attitudes – How we are to be. In verses 3-9 in Matthew 5, we read the following from “The Message.”

Matthew 5:3-9 MSG
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rule.”
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s when you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”
“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.”
“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart— put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”
“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. That’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family.”

When you replace the word “blessed” with “happy,” you’re getting close to understanding how to be part of the right solution, serving others, doing our part, and choosing good over evil.

Go in Peace, Chuck


How Should We Respond to Crisis?

by

AChuckAllen | Monday, August 1, 2022

Every week we are bombarded with another crisis. A school shooting, mass shooting, flood, fire, riot, shortage, war, and the hits keep coming.

How can we respond to these crises without remaining angry, bitter, or hardened? How do we hear about more crises without growing jaded or curled up in anxiety? Fair questions for a country that regularly finds its way into trouble.

As a pastor, coach, and counselor, I’ve learned four things that we can all do to respond appropriately to the next crisis.

  1. DON’T CATASTROPHIZE THE CRISIS
    Fight hard not to let your mind convince you that things are far worse than they are. If we aren’t careful, our brain will convince us that we are like our preferred news outlet. We can be so active in telling ourselves that the sky is falling everywhere. We can make every crisis our crisis. Yes, we should be concerned, moved, and burdened, but you cannot own and exasperate every situation. My friend Julie Homrich would say, “don’t believe everything you think.”
  2. ACTIVELY LISTEN
    In most crises, loud voices point fingers, find fault and politicize the situation. Friends, this is not how to help or how to respond. There is a reason our Creator gave us two ears and one mouth. The single best way to respond to a crisis is to exercise your capacity to listen actively. Yes, affirm your connection to those affected. Affirm their heartache or pain, but at all costs, hush and let them speak. Let them find solace in your presence without your words. Keep this in mind. If you don’t know what to say, please don’t throw a catchphrase or random Bible. Verse their way. Just be there and listen. It’s okay to have a ministry of presence. While meeting the wonderful people of Uvalde, Texas, I heard, over and over again, “you are the only people asking us what we need.” In most points of crisis, words are cheap. Listening is golden.
  3. PRAY AND THEN PRAY SOME MORE
    We Americans are such activity-based people. When a hurricane happens, we get out the chain saws and wet vacs. When a shooting happens, we tend to do the same thing. What in the world? Prayer should never be seen as the last resort. Prayer is the single most extraordinary power on earth and requires zero travel! The minute you see or hear of a crisis, start praying. I’ll never forget seeing a horrific auto crash and hopping out of my truck to see if I could help. I got to the driver and realized they were already in the process of bleeding out. An incredible EMT jumped in, and I started praying for this mom out loud in the middle of highway 78. At that moment, the single greatest thing I knew to do was to PRAY! Before I finished, there were more than 20 people that had gathered around and, in their way, joined me in praying. Five days later, I got word that this dear lady had lost her leg, but she had her life and her toddler in the backseat. Prayer works! Pray, and then pray some more!
  4. ACT WITH GRACE AND SERVE WITH HUMILITY Determine not to join the fray and jump on the whiner train. Here is an equation from my friend Brad Rhoads, “Grace + Intentionality = Transformation” grace extends forgiveness and continuously extends a benefit of the doubt. Grace doesn’t blame. It smooths. And here is an authentic truth – WHEN WE EXTEND GRACE, WE SERVE OTHERS WITH HUMILITY!” According to the poster child of humility, Mother Teresa, this is what humility looks like: These are the few ways we can practice humility:
  • To speak as little as possible of one’s self.
  • To mind one’s own business.
  • Not to want to manage other people’s affairs.
  • To avoid busy-body curiosity.
  • To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.
  • To pass over the mistakes of others.
  • To accept insults and injuries.
  • To accept being slighted, forgotten, and disliked.
  • To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
  • Never stand on one’s dignity.
  • To choose is always the hardest. And best.

The evil in this world will continue to be a struggle from now until we reach Heaven’s gates. We will have minimal power over what they might be or where they will happen, but how we act and react to crises is entirely within our power.

Let us be a people that act and react in and through crises with grace, decency, and kindness. The world has a widening depletion of women and men that will respond in love. If we want to improve this world, let us act in these four areas.

Go in Peace, Chuck

Haiti and the Southern Border

by

AChuckAllen.com

There are no easy answers to the mess found on our Southern Border. Some problems go back over multiple administrations. I’m not suggesting that any solution alleviates every issue. But come on, man!

Two hundred thousand plus people have been crossing the border due to this administration’s policies. That isn’t what concerns me nearly as much as how we have treated the thousands of migrants who somehow made their way from Haiti to Del Rio, Texas.

When you think about the realities that these poor people have experienced, you must wonder, if these Haitian people do not qualify for asylum, who does? Haiti is in the midst of another crisis. A country riddled with earthquake and hurricane recovery. A country with horrific poverty and filth. And a government that has been poorly led and often ruled by corruption. These people are desperate.

I know that the United States needs controlled border security. I am aware that we can’t salvage everyone. But again, if the Haitians don’t qualify for asylum, who under the blue sky of Texas does? Knowing all of that, the best answer we have is that we are flying them back to Port ‘au Prince? The living quarters under the bridge in Del Rio are light years better than their lives in Haiti. I’ve been there enough and seen it up close.

I’ve been told that as a pastor, I really should not write anymore “politically charged articles.” Come on, man!

While I’m whining a bit, let me also get something off my chest. I’ve spent a fair amount of time on America’s Southern Border and with the men and women in the green uniforms. The U.S. Border Patrol Agents are the very salt of the earth. They are the least paid of all the federal law enforcement officers – the lowest. They are primarily Hispanic-Latino, themselves. They are not the ICE agents you see banging on doors, and they deserve far better than the demonization being thrown at them by Washington. These folks are underpaid, overwhelmed, and understaffed.

I’ve been in the Border Stations and Ports of Entry on our border. I’ve seen the Border Patrol show more compassion and concern for people than most churches do for their communities. They do their job with no appreciation at all. This ridiculous issue about horses and whips is foolishness—shame on our elected officials for misrepresenting these folks in the green uniforms. Horses are necessary because of the terrain. Whips are tools to keep the horses where they belong. Not one shred of evidence points to the Border Patrol doing anything wrong. But pictures of horses and river crossings draw outrage, while many Haitians living under a bridge draw apathy. Unbelievable.

As I wrote earlier, I know that these problems do not have simple solutions. And this is not intended to be political writing, although it will be received that way on both sides. This is a cluster of bad decisions and a historically political hot potato that could be resolved. But that would require some common sense.

Why do we constantly resort to binary thought patterns? Why does it always have to be one extreme or the other? Why not put a bit of compassionate common sense to work here?

Here are a few thoughts:

  1. Vaccinate the thousands of Haitians with temporary housing in between shots. That could have already happened, given the timeframe they have been in Texas.
  2. Expedite asylum hearings for them as they are escaping a disaster.
  3. Redirect much of the funding of the“infrastructure package” to fund additional Border Patrol staffing and expedited asylum hearings.
  4. Redirect all ICE funding and assets to Border Patrol.
  5. Allow faith-based organizations and NGOs to operate in conjunction with Border Patrol to care for as many immigrants as possible. They could hopefully ease some of the care required of the overworked, underappreciated Border Patrol.
  6. Stop playing politics with the border and care for people. It shouldn’t be that hard.
  7. Restrict entry until Border Patrol and legal assistance can be put in place to handle the ongoing, not soon ending crises.

I’m just a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia, but even I can do three things.

  1. Lead my church and community to pray earnestly for the Border Patrol and the Immigrants.
  2. Support the Border Patrol by getting to the border and encouraging them, and offering pastoral support for their families. And remind them that America appreciates them.
  3. Take teams and encourage others to take teams to serve the men, women, kids, and families stuck in the middle of the foolish political bickering. America has roughly 400,000 churches. If 5% of those churches raised $500 each and sent eight people twice, we would have $10mil and an army of 320,000 caring people.

America is better than turning desperate people away and doggone it; she’s better than demonizing her own faithful law enforcement officers. Come on, man!

This article isn’t about President Biden, former President Trump, Obama, or Bush. And it isn’t about donkeys or elephants. This is about people. People doing their best in green uniforms, and people seeking hope in a place where health and safety aren’t radically uncertain.

More to come…

Chuck