A Vision, Dumpsters and Kenneth Smith in Alabama
Deep in prayer this evening, I sought God’s guidance. I was transported to another place. There, I saw dumpsters full of people. Each dumpster was labeled in particular ways. The labels didn’t seem to matter as much as the dumpsters full of people. As I stood there, I kept seeing people thrown away in different dumpsters. Each time, a label was affixed to the person, and they were placed in the dumpster that corresponded to their label. As I tried to ascertain what was going on, I realized that society was declaring that these people don’t matter based on the label that was affixed to them. I began to cry at the inhumanity of it all. Then, I saw a person that I had pretended didn’t matter…that I had ignored…in a dumpster of my own creation. Quickly, I realized that all are guilty of creating dumpsters where we throw people away. Indeed, it quickly becomes horrifically apparent that modernity is defined by one thing…our dumpsters full of people we have discarded. I called out to God, “We must save these people from this fate!” Without saying a word, God pointed to a dumpster full of the vilest people one could imagine. I recognized some of them from my work on various death rows. Others I’d known from the news. Still others from crimes that had been committed against people that I love. After a few seconds, God demanded of me, “Are you ready to empty that dumpster? Are you ready to bring them back?” It took me a second. Some of the people that I saw had hurt so many people. In my hesitation, I heard God say, “If you leave them in there, you will be leaving part of yourself, your children and your children’s children in there as well.” I didn’t understand. “What you have done to the least of these you have done to me,” God reminded me. Then, I realized that the presence of God that had been guiding me was in the dumpster of people I was hesitant to release. I realized that I was the impediment for people seeing the hand of God in the land of the living…because I was responsible for leaving God…and a variety of others in the dumpster. My heart was overwhelmed. The presence of God became as real as I have ever encountered. “No more dumpsters,” God said, “No more dumpsters.”
On January 25, the State of Alabama intends to kill Kenneth (Kenny) Smith. Kenny matters because we all matter. If Kenny doesn’t matter, then none of us matters. If our society is ever to become healthy, our mindset has to change from subtraction to addition. Indeed, the path of God is always…and has always been…about pulling people out of the dumpster instead of putting people in.
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