Cecil the lion:Murder of the Innocent

Over the past few days unless you live under a rock you will have no doubt heard of Cecil the lion. He was killed on July sixth but the entire world has become outraged at the slaughter of the animal only this past weekend. According to the reports Cecil was a much loved lion even fitted with a tracking collar for scientific study. This would be a bigger deal to me under other circumstances. I’m one who is fascinated by the wolves of Yellowstone and thanks to my brother Kyle and sister-in-law Kristy have gotten a more intimate look at the reintroduction of the beautiful creatures to Yellowstone in The Killing of Wolf Number 10:By Thomas McNamee. I am a hunter, I eat meat. That being said I’ve never understood killing for sport. If you don’t plan on eating it, the creature is not physically harming you or being a detriment to your home, don’t shoot it. The killing of Cecil should have angered me beyond belief; the man who killed Cecil certainly didn’t eat him.  The lion wasn’t harming him or his home, the lion was living in a national park in Zimbabwe. He was lured out and then killed, for sport. While this makes me mad it doesn’t do much more than that.

Strangers and even friends who read this blog might find me heartless for not expressing vehement anger at Cecil’s killer. Now allow me to tell you why. Two weeks ago a video was released of people inside Planned Parenthood discussing the selling of baby parts. The world at large has said nothing of this travesty, and it is a travesty. A gross injustice that is both bone-chilling and blood-curdling. When I first found out I had to fight the urge not to vomit. Mind you, they were discussing the selling of human body parts, for profit. We do this at butcher shops or markets, sell cuts of meat of animals, but this was not the selling of a lamb shank. This was the sale of parts of a human baby who had been forcibly mutilated and removed from its mother’s womb.

Planned Parenthood should be stopped. But it won’t be. People care more about the life of a single lion than they do the sickening practice of abortion and selling of baby parts. These same people are probably aware of human trafficking and could even be staunch supporters of ending the trading of human slaves. However, abortions are different, if you say abortions shouldn’t happen you are saying a woman has no right to choose what to do with her own body. I’m not Pro-Choice. There is the matter of Pro-Choice not being a real choice at all. When you say you are Pro-Choice you are essentially saying this: I’m for giving a woman (and more often than not man) the right to ‘choose’ to not take responsibility for their actions. That ‘choice’ results in killing a human because they aren’t ready for that yet.  By the time this article is finished and posted on my blog more than 103,000 humans will have been killed by abortion today alone.  That should stop you in your tracks. The sheer magnitude of that number should cause you to grieve, not only for the lives lost but for a nation and a world that truly has no compassion for human life. Kill an animal and you’re a murderer kill a baby and you’re just choosing to make your life easier. Backward logic but the logic of people who are fallen and sinful.

Human life is a precious thing. Beyond the normal argument of ‘what if you just killed the person who was going to cure cancer or the next Einstein’ there is a much stronger reason as to why abortion is murder and should be seen as such. Every life no matter the circumstance it was conceived in matters. God creates each life personally and intricately for a purpose that we cannot know. A life that was never given the chance to discover the love of the God who created everything who deserves the praise of every human on this planet. A God who even if we don’t give Him that and we often don’t is praised by the very world He created.

Don’t misunderstand me; grace is most certainly extended to the very people who work in Planned Parenthood. Grace is extended to mothers and fathers who decide that getting an abortion is their only option. They need grace just like I do. That is not the easiest thing to admit but it is true. I’m no better a person than they are. The truth is there are no good people. People are alive in Christ or dead in sin. There are no good or bad. You are dead or you are alive. Loving these people isn’t easy, but that is why I’m not God. It is hard for me to love people who so flippantly destroy and throw away human life and then sale body parts. But God does and because He does, I should as well. Even if the thought of abortion makes me sick, makes me vehemently angry, I have to love these people.

I do not agree with them. I do not understand them. I do not shout from the rooftops for the head of a man who killed a lion rather than justice for the millions of humans killed by abortion since 1973. But I do have to love them.

(Authors Note: I am well aware that those who read this may see only an angry man who is sickened by the actions of a world and nation who have such a low view of human life. But, I pray and hope that you see much more than that. I hope you see that there is love here. Even amidst anger and pain, there is love and grace, because I am a sinner saved by grace and I need it daily just like everyone else.)

#NoogaStrong

They say there are days that you will remember forever. The day you get married, the days your children are born. The happy times that even when time wears away your ability to remember where you put your keys you will not forget. Then there are days when tragedy strikes and despite the horror you see, it is etched in your memory for all of your life this side of Heaven. September 11, 2001 is such a day. I can remember with outstanding detail what I was doing that morning when the first tower fell and for the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 16 will go down in history as the day the town I’ve lived in my entire life, Chattanooga changed forever.  The attack on the recruitment center and naval reserve isn’t anything like this city has seen before. When such things happen in a different state or halfway around the world you can distance yourself. When it occurs in your hometown it is just there.  The idea of safety and ‘that can’t happen here’ is shattered like glass. Pain, sorrow, and fear are all there and you have to feel them because there is no where else they can go. You can’t hide from them and that isn’t an easy thing to deal with. 

I can say that without a doubt I’ve never been as scared as I was Thursday. Fear does interesting things to the brain and my brain was no different. My train of thought went from I’ll bet my brother is down there with S.W.A.T. to Is my sister who works on Amnicola working today? The answer to both of those is yes.

 I grew up playing around on a fire truck and I blame that for my innate need to know exactly where every set of sirens I hear is going. My grandfather was a narcotics detective. My father was a firefighter until he retired ten years ago. My oldest brother is a firefighter and my other older brother is a policemen. I’m the first male in my family to choose a profession that isn’t first responder related.  I teach preschoolers currently. Just before we were put on lockdown I saw a policeman go by running hot which isn’t a strange sight. Within the next five minutes we were put on lockdown. That was the first time in going on eight years of being at MDO that has ever happened. Molding minds is a responsibility I take seriously and I’m honored that people trust me with their children.  However, for the first time in those almost eight years the protection of those minds became a reality.

I’m naturally protective though I’m not a large or even remotely intimidating person. I stand at 5’4” and weigh 115 lbs soaking wet. It took no time at all for my brain to jump to alright there are shots fired reports all over this city if something happens what am I going to do. I’m analytical in any situation and run through every scenario possible. I can respond at the drop of the hat if pressed but I prefer to have time to think. That is the reason this is hitting the internet now and not Thursday.  That is when the fear really took hold. I’m not big, I wasn’t armed and though I wasn’t the only adult present the latter detail just faded away because I’m a guy. We are hardwired to protect, we just are. Why do you think so many little boys love superheroes or men become first responders and soldiers? We were made to protect. I am no different. When push comes to shove I’m not made to stand there and watch. I suppose buried within me somewhere is a little of that DNA that sends one brother into fires and another to protect the streets from people who wish to do others harm like my father and grandfather before them.

Thankfully nothing happened, the work day ended and I went home.

The same cannot be said for Thomas Sullivan.

The same cannot be said for Skip Wells.

The same cannot be said for David Wyatt.

The same cannot be said for Carson Holmquist.

The same cannot be said for Randall Smith.

The same cannot be said for Dennis Pedigo Jr.

The first four are Marines who were murdered Thursday during the attack.  The fifth a Navy Sailor who succumbed to his injuries Saturday Morning. The last a Chattanooga Police Officer injured during the attack.  These are the men we pay tribute to who have memorials set up for them in two different locations. These are the men we honor for their sacrifice paid for our country.  Men who just went to work and didn’t get to come home like normal.

Two years ago I watched a nation rally around the city of Boston. Today I live in a city that the nation is rallying around.  We will rise up. We will come together. We will press on because that is exactly what such an act is supposed to keep us from doing.  We are #Noogastrong.