Ghetto
Baby Girl,
Tonight, you fell asleep imagining yourself resting in My arms, with your head on My chest, hearing My heartbeat. You were thanking Me for the people in your life and asking Me to work in theirs. It was nice. I’ve missed that.
You’ve gotten back in the bad habit of turning on a sermon with a sleep timer like you used to and forgetting that it is I who gives you rest. As you poured your heart out about friends, family, and those you have been ministering to, your heart was beginning to beat in rhythm with Mine.
The way you talk to Me about people has been slowly shifting recently in beautiful ways that I want to make sure you’re aware of.
You often pray Psalm 139: “Search me and know me, and let me know if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” There has been an offensive way in you most of your life. You are becoming more aware of it in recent years and it has kept your ministry from being effective. This same offensive way is keeping many Christians from effectively ministering My grace and LOVE to the people around them…
Pride.
When your friend pointed out that you accidentally used the word “pride” in that recent email with a potential new client who was asking you to reduce your price and you told him your pride was not negotiable, you were horrified. You are aware that pride is an excessive focus on self whether you are focusing on yourself in positive OR negative ways. You immediately offered to work for free (rather than just reducing your price for him) and started seeking Me, asking if pride is still a problem in your life.
I’m glad you asked.
Today, when you called in your daughter’s prescription, you called it into the new Kroger around the corner. How did you save that number in your phone?
“Kroghetto Pharmacy.”
Why did you call it that?
When Kroger was down the street, it was a very old, very rundown building. It had poor lighting and was run by employees who looked like they lived very hard lives. Friends of mine acted like they were scared to go in there… like they would get mugged hanging out with the people who shopped there. They called it Kroghetto.
I always told them I LOVED my little Kroghetto!The employees were nice, the people who shopped there were down to earth, generally friendly, and the organic foods were always marked down because no one in the neighborhood was willing to pay the extra money for the organic stuff, so they sold it cheap just before it expired.
When they tore down my little Kroger that I loved, they built one of the big ones, with bright lighting and a HUGE selection down the street. The building looks nicer but the name “Kroghetto” seems even more fitting than it used to. They tore down another store a few miles away that had a very poor and oppressed looking population and that population has merged with ours.
“That population and ours?” Explain what you mean.
You don’t like where this conversation is going. We are hitting on some long-held beliefs that you thought you had dealt with. Explain what you mean and don’t clean it up because you know these letters are being shared.
Dry those tears and be honest. Explain… when you say, “that population and ours,” what do you mean?
I hate this.
I know you do - that’s good. So do I.
You’re thinking back to the prayer you prayed with your Bible study group on Tuesday night: “I want to LOVE what You LOVE, so help me to LOVE people as You LOVE them. I want to HATE what you HATE. You hate sin because sin hurts us. Help me to hate the sin in my own life enough to choose to walk in the righteousness You purchased for me.”
We both HATE what you don’t want to say. Say it.
The Kroger down the street from our church is full of mostly white, middle-class, comparatively affluent people. It is clean. The parking lot is clean, the employees appear to come from decent homes, speak English as their first language, and are generally in good moods. I have never been approached by anyone at that Kroger in a way that has made me feel threatened or afraid.
I really want to stop.
I know you do. Keep going.
The little Kroger they tore down that was around the corner from my house was in a run-down building, had employees who looked like they lived in relative poverty, and the customers were primarily white. They would fit somewhere in the category between blue-collar worker and welfare recipients; rough around the edges. For the most part, while many appeared to live below the poverty line, there were not many who appeared to be in active addiction or involved in criminal activity.
UGH. I am NOT enjoying this conversation!
I tell my girls that I do not want them going to the new Kroger…
No, speak frankly…
I tell them never to go to the new Kroghetto alone and, honestly, I’d rather put extra gas in their cars, have them drive a few more miles, and go to the store down the street from the church.
Why?
The first thought you had was racist. Say it.
Racially, we are a minority, but that’s not why…
Isn’t it?
Apparently it is - is that what you’re saying? Are you saying that I’m racist?
What are you afraid of? Think hard before answering.
Last time I was there, half of the people there looked like they were either active drug users or alcoholics. When I looked people in the eyes and smiled, they often look back at me like they were either suspicious or angry.
That’s fear.
Are you saying they are afraid of me?
Why would you be smiling at them? All that many people who live in poverty have ever experienced from “rich people” who “look like you” is judgment. Your smile confuses them because they are usually met with looks of fear or even disgust as “they” are generally looked at as lazy, uneducated leeches on society. Your kindness is confusing.
Go on…
Well now I’m just feeling really bad about my thoughts but, honestly, I’ve had one too many creepy men say inappropriate things to me in areas with a lot of poverty. I don’t like the attention I get. When I go there, I feel like it’s important to stay vigilant and be very aware of my surroundings.
I’m not personally afraid to be there but I worry that my girls won’t know how to handle themselves and they could possibly be followed, robbed, or in some way exploited.
Yesterday, you listened to a sermon in which the pastor explained where the word “ghetto” came from. Where did the pastor say the word ghetto came from?
Nazi Germany. During WWII, Hitler demonized and dehumanized Jews and convinced the Nazi party that Jews were an inferior race and that they were a threat to society. Jews were moved into neighborhoods that were referred to as ghettos and, eventually, the people living in those ghettos were moved to concentration camps intended to rid their society of the “dirty Jews,” creating a “more civilized society.”
Calling your neighborhood Kroger “Kroghetto,” even jokingly, is perpetuating the dehumanizing of “that population.” I don’t ever want to hear you jokingly or seriously refer to any person, way of dressing, or neighborhood as “ghetto” again. Take that word out of your vocabulary and your mind.
The word “ghetto” is offensive and is a loaded gun pointed in the direction of Christlike LOVE. Could you imagine Jesus referring to your Kroger as “Kroghetto” or the population who shops there as a “ghetto” population?
The word “ghetto” breeds fear - and perfect LOVE casts out fear. If you are going to walk in My perfect LOVE, you must remove everything you say AND EVEN THINK that fosters fear.
From now on, you are to refer to the new Kroger as YOUR Kroger. You are to go out of your way to shop there rather than the one down the street from your church.
You LOVE people… but you can LOVE them better. You look everyone in the eyes with a smile. That’s good; but you’re still harboring seeds of fear in your soul. Do you know what the problem with fear is?
I’m smiling because you remembered we talked about it in a previous letter. Go ahead and look it up so you can remember word-for-word.
(From Letter LOVE Overcomes Hate) “When you fear anything long enough, that fear will morph into hate, and you will begin to hate that thing. Hate is an emotion that leads to death. Hate begins where LOVE ends. LOVE is the only power strong enough to overcome hate.”
You need to deal with those little seeds of fear. You can’t harbor any fear AND minister My LOVE from a pure heart. Seeds of fear left in the soil of your heart will eventually germinate and grow into hate - and hate has no place in you.
Back to bed.
LOVE,
Daddy
Ephesians 4:29