The love of Christ Changeds Communities by Changing Lives
By Dick Wild
It is mind boggling how KootenaiCounty has
changed in the last forty
years.
I remember growmg up m a simpler and slower
time in Coeur’ d Alene.
Sanders beach
was my front yard and Tubs Hil my back yard.
Neighborhood baseball
games, swimmmg all summer, fishmg, bike
rides and kick the can.
Never figured it all could change so drastically.
It’s no loner simple
and life is being lived out in the fast lane. Yes,
good things have
happened, yet good is rapidly losing
ground to evil, darkness and the increasing
breakdown of families and
communities.
Life was a little more secure back then. Now
times are critical and
complicated by harsh
reahties hke rampant drug abuse, domestic
violence, a fifty percent
divorce rate, broken
children, shootings, rapes and various crimes.
What happened? How did
we get here?
Don’t know all the reasons, but I know if
changes don’t take place in
a serious manner,
beautiful North Idaho will be transformed into
another area to move
out oflike so many
have moved here to escape the growing evils
where they grew up.
Instead of letting evil overwhelm us, let’s learn
from the past and
take a stand. Why let
denial and complacency finally destroy us and
cause us to say,” Boy,
we should have
done something different back then while we
had a chance?” You know
something. I
have heard multitudes who have moved here
into North Idaho from bigger
cities and
different states say, “I hope we don’t have to
move again to a safer
and less complex
place.” Guess what? The darkness is every
where. No more places for us
modem day
pilgrims to go and find a safer and less complex
new world. We either
take a stand for
good and righteousness and challenge evil and
darkness or starting
looking for places to
run.
I became a casualty of darkness in the past. In
the depths of my
despair caught in the
grips of addiction, in 197 4 I made a choice to
change because of my
Brokeness and
others in my community choose to empower
me to change. Friends,
educators, family,
community members along with the loving
presence of Christ became
concerned change
agents in my life. At a time when I gave up on
myself of ever becoming
a healthy and
productive citizen, God and others did journey
with me.
My journey changed me from a hopeless
helpless addict medicating away
my pains
within, towards eventually becoming a more
healthy person with a
passion to facilitate
God’s life changing love. I am so grateful that I
recovered from my
addictions, went
back to college to become a minister. I have
worked in prisons, jails
and in the streets
and walked with hurting people who were
broken like I was and became a
change agent
in their lives. I have seen multitudes of broken
people who wrote
themselves off and
were wrote off by so many other realize that
God didn’t.
If more of God's people don't choose to really
become change agents in God's loving
power and really serve Christ out in our
communities as reflectors of the living Christ
within, then evil and darkness will take us down
with the ship of complacency.
I know people can change il} Christ's power and
presence, I have experienced it myself
If God can change me, He can change any one,
at time. No matter how bad things get.
I know others who changed and no longer
repeat criminal activity, violence and
life destroying patterns. Now they have become
healthy contributors to society.
Isn't that what the goal of corrections is all
about? Is not that what concerned citizens
want to see more of around where they live? Is
that not the goal of God's love to the
Nations? Our society is looking for true spiritual
help. They want to see and believe in a
God who is real and overcomes evil. Many of
the un-churched are disillusioned
because of the religious infighting going on
between various denominations. The
credibility of the gospel is damaged as a result.
The hurting and searching need to
connect with the life giving and changing spirit
of Christ. The witness of a loving Christ
will be validated much more ifHe is allowed to
personally touch people out in the real
world through Christ filled Believers.
I the last few years I have realized that many of
the authority systems, community
leaders, social care giving agencies and business
people are wanting the Faith community
to be more involved in working together toward
social wellness. At this time social ills
are growing out of control and are destroying
families, kids and communities.
I have worked along side of many secular
systems and faith based organizations over the
last twenty years. There are many good people
who are very concerned about the future
of Kootenai County. As a Christian minister, my
concern is, how can Christ be released
through His believers out in the real world
more and more? He is a real powerful change
agent in our communities. He promised if we
would go out that He would be with us and
make a difference. The sad reality today is evil
and darkness are winning the battle.
What is even more sad is the Spiritual Body of
Christ has the ultimate power to restore
social ills. Many are asking, when is it going to
happen? I ask, when is the salt of the
preservation of Christ going to pour out and
overcome the growing darkness that only
Jesus has the power to destroy?
Many have been praying over the years for God
to move and bring revival to our land.
I believe God is wanting to move, but He needs
more willing servants in our land to step
out by faith, step up to the plate and actively
minister to people, organizations and sytems
out where they live, work and play. Lazarus was
raised from the dead because His
followers chose to move the stone by faith.
Jesus wants to release our county from the
death grip of evil. He is waiting for His modern
day followers to move the stones
indifference, divisions and complacency.
The harvest in our land has been ripe for years.
God needs willing laborers to go out to
the fields of harvest in the communities we live
in. He will heal our land if we repent and
change our evil ways. I believe there is a huge
need for all of us who go by His name to
repent for not being the Light in past years that
could have overcome our social darkness.
Repentance is more than saying, "Sorry God."
He expects us to actively do what we
haven't been doing. Our God is waiting for His
people to actively stand in the gap for
Him in our land. I pray that God bless all as we
obediently respond to Holy Spirit in
these critical days.
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