I leave a realtively mild winter weekend in Maryland only to return to snow today.

Normally, I’d love snow, but today is a melancholy kind of day. My car was shown on the news this morning, but only because of the ambulance passing by it. Four houses down, a 23 year old man died at 11:35 pm after shooters unloaded at least one gun into him. I heard it happen while feeding Jasper and talked to the police shortly thereafter.

It’s one of those things that reminds me that even the Great United States needs God. It also reminds me that we, as Christians, shouldn’t be flocking to the suburbs as fast as we can. We are needed elsewhere and if that means living somewhere contrary to popular culture, so be it.

There is so much love to spread. Why on Earth are we arguing about IN GOD WE TRUST on the money. ( We’re not Deists anymore. I say let’s be honest and stamp “We Trust Our Money” on our foreheads.) Why on Earth are we trying to cleverly hide God in Intelligent Design. Why are folks like Bill Bright and other evangelicals fighting politics? Why is Jesse Jackson now going around with Terrell Owens? Phonies.

The hardest thing is to face the phony in the mirror. Seriously. I’ve met the neighbors and talked to them, but I haven’t done anything for my community, either. I haven’t even given a gift to one of my neighbors that gave us some of her prized tomatoes. For all of my indignation at White America for refusing to acknowledge neighborhoods like mine, I haven’t done that much either. I don’t deserve some accolade for moving here, more people live here out of necessity and they aren’t getting any prizes.

That is why today is melancholy. Could I have responded to the scene and maybe saved his life? Could I have shared more about God with neighbors? Who knows.