Stopping and Speaking

I was rounding the corner by our neighborhood tennis courts on my Saturday morning run when I heard the snarling. A Golden Retriever tethered to its owner was barking toward another dog. The other dog, a Rottweiler – untethered and leash free – was debating between obeying his master's command to "stay" and pursuing the Retriever.  As the woman tried to rush her Retriever away to safety, the Rottweiler charged. The attack only lasted a moment. The owner of the Rottweiler tore his dog away and quickly secured the dog to leash.

As the woman, badly shaken, and her dog backed away, I approached the man to say that I'd seen him repeatedly with his dog off leash in the common area. He apologized, "If the dog is hurt I'll be glad to take care of it." I explained that the best way to "take care of it" would be to keep his dog on a leash from now on.

My exchange with the man was brief and relatively polite given the tenseness of the situation.  It was the woman's comment to me that sticks in my mind. She said, "Thanks for stopping and speaking." What I think she meant was, thanks not just for stopping to see if she was okay, but rather, thanks for stopping and speaking up – for giving words when her fear made her feel powerless to speak.  Thanks for stopping and speaking.

I usually settle for more subtle forms of protest. I tend to live my life hoping others will somehow magically catch on to what I believe and what I think is important. But our global and local neighborhoods need Kingdom citizens who are willing to not just stop and notice when the world is out of whack, but who are also willing to speak up about it.

Don't get me wrong. I am not tooting my own horn here. The guy didn't have a gun. I didn't lie down in front of a tank. After all, I was confronting a man in my comfortable suburban neighborhood next to our tennis courts and swimming pool – not confronting a drug lord in the barrios of Mexico. And yet this encounter reminds me that Jesus followers are called to stop and speak. While our actions are critical to our witness, our words are necessary too.

Here's to finding our voice, in justice and mercy, as God's Kingdom people.