Intensity

The scene is permanently etched.  The precariousness of life.  The violence.  The reality of blood, damage, and life in the balance.  No matter how carefree, careless, or aloof one might want to be from life, this was a moment where reality was present. 
 
In my life this scene has played out more than once.  Even though I do not recall the moments on most days when something triggers my memory I find myself reliving the moment as if it was right here and now.  The first memory was almost four decades ago.  Everyone involved was a friend.  The damage real, stark.  As one friend lay bleeding towards death with a compound fractured leg everyone knew they needed to act in some way.  Everyone lived past that day yet me life was forever altered.
 
The scary reality is that your life and mine is at risk, right now, here in this place.  Metaphorically we are bleeding to death; even if we think everything is ok.  Our souls are losing their life forces, our hearts are being torn and ripped by the chaos we live in, and our futures hang in the balance.  This isn’t a story of raising an alarm.  It is a statement of fact.  The question of how and when we will act sits in limbo.
 
In this context a warning should be heard.  For one it is simple; “Take your stand, indolent women!  Listen to me!  Indulgent, indolent women, listen closely to what I have to say.  In just a little over a year from now, you'll be shaken out of your lazy lives.  The grape harvest will fail, and there'll be no fruit on the trees.”  (Isaiah 32.9, 10) 
 
For you and me it may be a bit more complex; yet the warning is there.  Life is often very intense.  Life is very precarious.  Bad things happen to good people and in situations where every intention is good.  Don’t back off if someone is intense; listen, and be aware.  Your life depends on your response.  Reach out, live with God in your life.