WS Chronicle

By Dr. James B. Ewers Jr.

Our land that we call home is unraveling. The sad but factual truth is that we are watching the erosion take place right in front of us. Each day we wake up, we see the wrongdoing that is taking place. Yet the will to intercede seems to be lacking.

The problem is that we are using our will instead of His will to fix it.

We now have become the suffering states in the minds of many people. We have lost our direction and our focus. Our country has fallen into bad habits and into the hands of the wrong people. We need to return to His hands because we the people have strayed.

Let me say up front that I am a believer and in the fourth quarter of my life. I have lived a long time and I have experienced a lot of things over my lifetime. So, when I talk about the old school, I don’t mean 25 years ago.

America has lost its status and stature in the world. Traditional rules and regulations have fallen by the wayside. Structures and principles we grew up with no longer have their place in our beloved community. In the quest for getting ahead these days, everyone is too busy to continue the ideals that our parents and grandparents used.

Let’s take a quick look at some of what we did back in the day.

For example, families had dinner together each day. It would give us a chance to talk about our day and to have fellowship.

As children, Sunday was a church day. We had Sunday School, big church and BTU (Baptist Training Union) in the evening. Simply stated, we had a spiritual foundation.

We knew everyone in our neighborhood, and we were respectful to our elders.

When the streetlights came on, we had to come inside. Those lights coming on signaled the end of our outside activities.

Recently, our revered pastor, Fred Luter Jr. at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana, preached a profound sermon entitled “Rebuilding Our Foundation.” In it, Pastor Luter talked about rebuilding our foundation of dignity, decency and devotion. The eloquence and timeliness of this preached word have stayed on my mind and in my heart.

He said, “Our foundations are being destroyed. The body of believers is acting more like the world.”

Pastor Luter is right. If you look around, we are slowly coming apart at the seams. What has become of us? Our armor, once solid, is cracking, and as Pastor Fred Luter Jr. said, quoting Bobby Womack, “Nobody wants you when you are down and out.”

The bridges are falling, and the walls are crumbling. The bridge of humanity is giving way and the wall of compassion has melted away. We don’t treat each other right and it is showing.

Killings and shootings are now commonplace as we wake up each morning to sad and sorrowful news. Family responsibilities and roles have taken a turn. Children are becoming bolder, taking chances with their futures by becoming involved in bad behavior.

Most importantly and in my opinion, our spirituality has gone on an ill-advised and ill-timed vacation. Until we find our way back, wrong will feel like right and bad will feel like good.

Our barometers of kindness and treating each other with dignity and respect have sunken to a new low. Some would argue that these current maladies will only get worse.

We need a panacea of hope and an elixir of good will if we are truly to be our brother’s and sister’s keeper.

I believe we can overcome if we lean on His understanding and not our understanding.

We have tried everything else. Now let us try Him.

Ask and it will be given.

James B. Ewers Jr., Ed.D., is a former tennis champion at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem and played college tennis at Johnson C. Smith University, where he was all-conference for four years. He is a retired college administrator. He can be reached at overtimefergie.2020@yahoo.com.