As I was walking back to my house the weekend before Inauguration Day 2021, my neighbor from across the street and a block south, called out to me, so I crossed over to talk with him. As we were talking I heard a voice behind me say gruffly, “How are you?”
I know that was a question and I was supposed to write “he asked gruffly,” but his tone was more a formality than a question. I turned, smiled, and said, “I’m doing just fine! How are you?” My exuberance was at a higher level than usual, which surprised me since I’m usually more subdued by nature.
The gruff man was wearing a white hoodie that he had pulled up over his head, baggy pants, and a rather disheveled look in the manner he was wearing his clothes and the way his shoulders were stooped over. He was a dark skin black man, maybe in his late 30’s, who had a weathered look and a scraggly beard which appeared to only grow from his chin.
As he passed behind me on the sidewalk he uttered, “Not too good.”
So, naturally, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
He stopped a few feet past me, turned half-way toward me and while looking down said, “I’m surprised you asked me that.”
I laughed and asked, “Why would you be surprised I asked you that?”
He hesitated, then replied, “Because I’m black.”
I once again laughed and said, “What? I wasn’t supposed to ask because I’m white?”
“Well, I didn’t think you would.”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t care how you’re doing? just because you’re black and I’m white?” He didn’t immediately respond so I asked another question. “Are you buying into what the media is telling you, that there’s a big racist divide in this country and white people don’t like black people?”
He nodded his head “Yes,” and said, “It’s a crazy world. Kids are killing their parents and burning things down and lying about people.”
I responded by agreeing and added, “It sounds to me like you’ve bought into to some of those lies. I’ll tell you who’s lying to you, it’s whatever your source of information is that is telling you white people are against black people.”
He continued standing with his head down, so I asked, “What’s your source of information? Where are you getting this?”
He said that he got his news from his phone and I recognized his “Breaking News” source came straight from an Apple app. He was listening to the liberal news media and he was an angry black man. “Let me tell you what the truth is. Do you think I’m a racist?”
He looked at me, still with that anger in his eyes and replied, “Well, you’re white and I’m black.”
I laughed and said, “We live in a mixed neighborhood. If I was a racist would I choose to live in a mixed neighborhood?” I then pointed to the neighbor I had been talking to and asked, “Would he live in a mixed neighborhood if he was a racist?”
His countenance softened and he said, “Probably not.”
“No, we’re not the ones lying to you. The media is lying to you. Why do I think the media is lying to you?”
He looked at me and said, “I don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you why, but first let me ask you a question.” He nodded and so I continued, “Do you think Donald Trump is a racsist?”
“I don’t know,” he answered and I could tell he was listening instead of reacting to it with the anger he had been displaying just a few moments before.
“The left loves to say Donald Trump is a racist and so are the people who voted for him. Where do they get that? Did he win some kind of award for being a racsist? No, but he did win some awards for helping the black community. He used to be ‘loved’ by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson before he was President. So what changed? I could prove more easily that Joe Biden is a racist than I can Donald Trump, so why then would the Democrats and the media, which supports them, lie to you about us?”
He looked at me and asked, “Why?”
I said, “Have you ever heard the term, divide and conquor?” He nodded that he had. “That’s why. They’re trying to divide us so they can conquor us.”
The conversation continued in a political vein as I told him what conservatives really believed, as opposed by what the media and Democrats say we believe. After all, they’re two very different beleifs. As I did so he said, “You’ve opened my eyes to some things.”
“I’ve opened your eyes to the truth and you recognize truth when you finally hear it.”
The neighbor excused himself and went back inside. When he did so, the formerly angry black man introduced himself as Mr. Hubbard, so I gave him our names and shook his hand and said, “See, I’m not afraid to touch you because you’re black or because of Covid. I’m not afraid of either.” For the first time, I saw a hint of a smile cross his face. He told me his story at that point, about having been in a gang in his youth and how he had been recently falsley accused by a woman of holding a knife to her throat.
I told him, “Then you understand what it is to be falsley accused.”
He responded by saying, “Yes, like Trump and Jesus.”
By this point I had determined not to be distracted by politics. I said, “There’s something much more important I need to tell you about that is a lot more important than politics.” I then asked, “If you were to die today and stand before God and he were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?,’ what would you say?”
He hesitated and said, “I’d tell God that I hoped he’d let me in because I know I don’t deserve it, but I’d hope he’d let me in because I really want to do good.”
With understanding and compassion I replied, “That won’t work because you can’t be good enough and all God will see is your sin. It only takes one to keep you out, and my guess is you’ve committed more than one.”
He nodded and said, “I used to be in gang and so I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have.”
I asked, “Would you like to know that when you die and stand before God, that you have the right answer and that you can know you will be accepted into heaven?”
“Yes I would.”
“You’ve already admitted you’re a sinner and that you don’t deserve to get into heaven, and that’s the hardest part for people to admit. So, you’ve already done the hardest part. Now all you have to do is to ask God to forgive you of all those sins and put your complete faith in Jesus Christ who died and paid for those sins on the cross so that when you stand before God he doesn’t see your sin, but instead he sees the righteousness of Christ, who is God, and his blood covers your sins.”
I asked, “What is the most precious substance on earth?” He responded, “water?” I said, “The most precious substance is blood. Without blood you can’t live. Once you’re saved, when you get to heaven and God looks at you he doesn’t see your sin because it’s covered by the blood of his son and he only sees the rightousness of Jesus Christ. That way, he can let you into his heaven.”
I then paused and asked, “Would you like to be saved?”
Without hesitating he said, “Yes, I would.”
I said, “I’ll pray first and then you pray. These aren’t the words of some kind of magic formula. All that is required for you to be saved is for you sincerely believe that you’re a sinner and confess that to God when you pray. Then ask him to forgive you and save you so that when you die you will go to heaven based on what Christ did for you on the cross and not because of anything you’ve done. Do you understand?”
He once again nodded so I prayed a brief prayer in which I once again went over the plan of salvation as given in the Bible. That if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrightousness. I emphasized that it’s important to be sincere and not to pray hoping for a sugar daddy, or because we want anything more than salvation.
It then became his turn to pray and he prayed one of the most powerful prayers I have ever heard. I listened carefully to make sure that he understood salvation and the importance of asking forgiveness and asking Jesus Christ to save him from his sins.
He did so.
The anger was gone. It had been replaced by a joy that is only understood by those who have prayed that same sinner’s prayer and been sincere.
He thanked me for opening his eyes and we talked for a bit more about the importance of getting into a good Bible believeing church so he could grow in knowledge of who God really is. Just like in politics, find out what people believe and not what the enemies of those people say they believe. Find out what God says about salvation and who he is, not what his enemies say about him.
The next time you encounter anger, counter that anger with God’s love.