We need change. And someone special who can bring it.

-----

Another mass shooting last weekend. By the time this airs, there will likely be another one or two. It’s awful that these events no longer horrify us the way they should. I hardly read the story anymore. The details are all too familiar. A young male. An assault weapon. A troubled background. A history of affiliation with hate groups. Concerns by neighbors and employers of mental instability. And, boom. I’ve warned my children: at some point in your life, you’ll experience a mass shooting. Know what to do, I’ve told them.

Our politicians blame guns, blame parenting, blame hate groups, blame mental health, all trying to out shout each other. All hoping NOT to solve the problem, but, instead, all hoping to get reelected. Bluster. Pomp. Self-righteousness. Self-important. I’ve said it before: If it weren’t for politics these people would be unemployable.

Our world needs a prophet today. Someone who steps forward and offers a compelling alternative view of our reality that creates change.

Traditional faiths tell us that in times of chaos, confusion and disharmony, a messenger arrives, shouting from the edges, from the craziness of our world, showing us we’ve lost our way. There’s a better way, they say. We need that person now.

Prophets have always been outsiders but never strangers. They’re on the edges but are active in the customs and the  traditions of the group they’re trying to reform. They see a truth that has escaped those of us in the center who gain traction by attacking each other. The prophets call attention to something different, something more important, and often, something obvious – right in front of us – that we can’t see.

However, aside from a tight group of early adopters, profits are reviled. They threaten the status quo. And those who benefit from the status quo act quickly to silence them. Pastors and priests make careers out of teaching the Bible’s lessons of the prophets. Rest assured though, if a prophet showed up and questioned the value and the teaching of churches and pointed to a new, inclusive path to eternity, those very same pastors and priests would attack.  

But how would a prophet’s voice break through? Who could it come from? It won’t be a politician. Campaigning saying we’ve lost our way makes that person unelectable. It won’t be on social media. That person would be cancelled. It won’t be in business. That person would be accused of only trying to make money. And it won’t be through entertainers. THAT person would be cancelled. So who? And how? And from where?

Our world needs a prophet today. Someone to refocus us. To remind us of what’s important. No prophet ever said, “Hey. I’ll do it. I’ll be your prophet.” They took the job reluctantly, feeling inferior to the task, but compelled by change that needs to happen. Our world needs that prophet today.

I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real.