As much as I hate to make them--wait, no I don't--I just have to say this;
Me leaving NYC will be very much like the soldiers taking the Jews out of the Gaza strip.
Wow. How dare I say that?!
I know.
But I look at the photos of these wailing men and women, mouths stretched wide open, their fists bunched with shreds of their clothing in them, being carried away from the place they love (or at least feel entitled to be) and my solipsistic mind thinks of only one thing.
"That's me too."
Even the answers I should use for myself applies to them;
At least they are being taken to an alternative place to live, rather than becoming homeless.
At least they are being taken by their own government and not some foreign army taking them away into captivity.
At least they have God on their side, and He is going to look out for them.
All these "at leasts" are true for both me and the Gaza Jews, and yet none of those answers satisfy. (Not even the God one??? C'mon, that should satisfy everyone!)
But even the Syrophenician woman who got a "no" answer from Jesus wouldn't settle. And this was Jesus Himself, who called her a dog!! Many who love Jesus cannot believe He would be this intentionally cruel to a woman asking for a miracle for her daughter, and we assume he was testing her by using harsh language and seeing if she would persist--which she did do.
And so will I.
God made a way for me to be safe and sheltered in the light of my financial failures. I am thankful and grateful. But I am not satisfied. If Jacob could wrestle with a heavenly being until he received what he wanted, and God didn't just smash him like a tick for his arrogance, but give him his desires and change his very name to Israel, the least I can do is persist in this struggle to remain a New Yorker.
Okay, I think I've offended enough people for now (and finally learned how to post pics too).
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