Responding with Love
Consider this scenario: You sit down for dinner with your fraternity brothers. Just as you are about to enjoy your delicious meal, one brother plops down beside you and tells the most offensive, sexist joke about a sorority woman. There are a couple of ways you might react to inappropriate dinner-time conversation.
You stand up with righteous anger burning out of your ears as you throw your Bible down shouting, “This place is so sinful, you’re all going to burn in hell.”
You stick your head under the table to spend the next ten minutes "looking" for your cell phone while texting your staff to pray for you.
You chuckle to placate your brother and quickly change the topic. You're not sure if it's funny, but nobody likes the person who brings the mood down.
Why I Spoke Up
My toddler sobbed uncontrollably as she tried to open the door. I calmly – or at least I tried to be calm – told her that she had to wear a diaper. She continued to pout. I continued to wait. After sobbing for a few minutes, she reluctantly realized that I was right. When God asked me to speak out publicly about racial reconciliation, I threw a tantrum that mimicked my daughter's. Like my daughter, I wanted to do it my way.