Honor Everyone, He Said

It was his beard.

He stood before us with an AR-15 and a garden tool. Mike Martin founded RAWTools, an organization that transforms weapons into garden tools.

I was attending a Peacemaking workshop at Simply Jesus with the good people of Global Immerse. I was sitting a few rows in the back and, at first, when Mike came to share some of his peacemaking journey, I didn’t look up.

I grew up with images of AK-47s, rifles and pistols. Men wielding big guns was part of the story of South Africa and in many ways, still is. As a young girl, I used to drive to the shooting range with my mom early on Saturday mornings where she learned to handle a handgun. I didn’t think too much of it then.

When I finally looked up, sitting in a room full of wannabe Peacemakers, I saw a young man with a big beard and a big gun.

I’d met him earlier in the weekend and, as you do, we followed each other on Twitter. I’d seen his heart and his beard and I’d probably categorized him with the hipster young guys at our church.

Suddenly, when I looked up and saw him with the big gun, different images surfaced. He looked like the men of the AWB in South Africa.

You can read the rest of the article at SheLovesMagazine.com.