Apr
23
How Will We Respond?
Filed Under Life
Last Sunday, a woman went missing. She was a wife, mother, friend. The city rallied together to find her – passing out flyers, going to stores she had been to and trying to put a timeline together of her day (she went shopping at the Greene for baby clothes). Her car was found with a flat tire with the keys in the car. I did not know this woman, but friends of mine did. To be completely honest, my only involvement in the search efforts was prayer.
But as pieces of the story came together, I changed my prayer from “please let her be found” to “please don’t let this be what I think it is.”
While the cities of Dayton, Xenia and Beavercreek (and others) were frantically searching, she was sunbathing on the beaches of Florida with a new beau (that last part may be made up, but she did run away to Florida with another man).
My initial response (and I’m assuming many others) was anger. How could she not only do that to her family and her friends, but the whole area of Dayton? How could she just up and leave, letting everyone think she was abducted? I watch NCIS, CSI, Law and Order, etc…I know what can happen. Why did she let us believe that’s what happened?
Then I started asking different questions. What was going on in her life that she would feel the need to escape? What was she thinking that made her feel her life was so bad or boring or whatever to make her feel she needed to run away with another man and leave her husband, child, friends and community?
As my friends and I discussed it last night, my one friend brought up the point that sometimes sin is so enticing. Sometimes sin can look so appealing that we may not notice it for what it is. We can all be led astray because Satan prowls around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
So my question now is how will we respond? Will we shun her? Will we forever see the “red A” painted across her chest? Will we forever speak ill of her behind her back? Or will we see her as our broken sister? Will we respond as the father did for the prodigal son (assuming she is willing to “come home”?)
Will we stop praying for her or will we pray more?