Confronted With Injustice

The first time I traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina was in 1998. I was on a prayer trip with a group of students from our Discipleship Training School in what was then Yugoslavia(now Serbia). For our week on prayer we decided to take a field trip to Bosnia and not just teach about prayer in the classroom, but go and pray in this neighboring nation where war had just ceased. I was not prepared for what I encountered on that trip. War to me was something you read about in books, saw in movies- but always an emotionally detached subject. At one point in our journey we were driving along a stretch of road that weaved through one bombed out village after another. On both sides of the road there were houses charred and destroyed with remnants of a former life strewn on the front lawn. Many of the houses had "war graffiti" sprayed on the rubble - a calling card so to speak from those who had "cleansed" the village. I was numb. Trying to process what I saw with my own eyes was a struggle, let alone trying to help the students I was leading make sense of it all. I can say that something changed in me on that trip - an innocence and naivety left me forever. So this is what humankind is capable of? This is what I am capable of if left to my fallen, sinful state? I just realized while writing this that that revelation took place exactly 10 years ago. I think it has taken me 10 years of processing that experience along with a hoard of other face-to-face encounters with injustice to now so deeply and seriously ask God questions about justice and injustice. Don't get me wrong, I've asked those questions before - but it seems at this juncture in my life - I not only am asking, but am at a place where I want to know the truth of God's justice.  

I am reminded of a scene from the movie A Few Good Men, where Tom Cruise's character is questioning Jack Nicholson's character - pushing him to tell the truth . . . Jack Nicholson so brilliantly played the part and lashed out with the now famous lines . . . "You want the truth? You want the truth? You can't handle the truth . . . " He then goes onto explain the harsh realities of the decisions he has to make everyday that others never even know about or contemplate.

Truth is sometimes different than what we expect and almost certainly cuts deeper and reveals things which we never could have imagined. I can't say if I am ready to handle the truth of God's justice, I am sure it is much more complex than what my "cut and dry" / "black and white" little heart is expecting. I can say that I want to know my God deeper, and an aspect of His character is justice. Knowing someone means delving into the scary parts too, even when you're not sure what you will find - so I trust God to allow me to know an aspect of Him that is misunderstood, confusing to many, yet good and true and coherent with all of Who He Is. 

Any thoughts??????