Letter to the Inland Empire

To the people of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino, Riverside and all the surrounding cities.

From -----, a humble servant of Christ, chosen to be a witness to the grace and love of God, which he longs to pour out on us through the power of His Spirit and by the faith of His people.

I have been watching you. I grew up here among you, yet only recently have my eyes been open to your poverty of spirit. You work hard, yet for no reward. You party hard for lack of purpose. You have been told lie after lie about what life is about, and you believe every word. You pursue pleasure as your highest goal. And you have treated righteousness and responsibility as refuse and rubbish.

When you aren’t drinking or smoking, you’re looking forward to the next time you will. And you gravitate towards others who do. You buy each other drinks and partake in the communion of intoxication. Alcohol is a powerful common denominator. It may hep you find friends by giving you something in common, by making you act more friendly, or by making you feel more confident. But it masks pain and serves as a substitute for a fulfilling life.

Sex is just a pastime for you. You copulate without commitment. You coddle your desires as a crying baby. You could not count how many sexual partners you have had any more than you could make a list of how many hands you’ve shaken. You have allowed yourself to be brainwashed by songs that praise promiscuity, by people who parade themselves around proud of their sexual prowess, and by the powerfully subtle pull of pornography. Looking for intimacy you have created within yourself an insatiable lust. Longing for love, you settle for a cheapened imitation.

Oddly enough, I see a glimmer of hope in the fruit of your loins. You love your children and do your best to take care of your family. They have become your priority, your purpose, your reason for living. As long as your addictions do not get in the way, you would sacrifice anything for the sake of your family. Unfortunately, you are bringing up your children in your own self-destructive ways. Unless someone intervenes, they will know no other life. You want more for them. But to pursue a better life for them means you have to face your own failures and possibly even make a change in yourself. It is so much easier just to let things be.

This life perpetuates itself again and again in too many homes of too many neighborhoods. No street is exempt, no apartment complex left out. It is not reserved for the financially poor but affects even the richest of you, despite appearances. This life causes so much pain and unnecessary confusion...