photo by Roy Exum
Okay, let me be the first to say it: What President Joe Biden and his far-Left advisors have allowed to happen at our Mexican Border seems to be substantial evidence the sometimes-addled “Uncle Joe” may well be unfit to be the leader of our country. You gasp and say, no, he’s doing his best on the behalf of over 20,000 unaccompanied children who are the victims of poverty, desperation, and horror. This is a valiant effort in human grace ... Go ahead, add the words of my Christ: “For I was hungry, and you gave me food, and I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger, and you took me in.” (Matthew 25:35)
With my emotions clashing, this is when I called on my friend, John Croyle, a sure-enough Angel who has spent a life saving one child after another at Big Oak Ranch in Rainbow City, Ala. He’s got 2,500 genuine “saves” and he has stood in the rain at a funeral when he and the preacher were the only ones there, this after John himself paid for the funeral of a horribly abused little child he was desperately trying to reach … and somehow couldn’t get custody in time.
I explained my plight to Croyle, a standout football player at Alabama under the “Bear,” and whose first group home was paid in full by John Hannah’s bonus to play with the Patriots. I told him what I knew about a relatively new church in Chattanooga. The Redemption of Nations, and how a former Tennessee Temple dormitory now held some of the 25,000 migrant children the Biden administration has seeming flung on a stunned United States.
“You the same ol’ Roy aren’t you?” he laughed at me. “You want to be the tip of the spear, you want to do what’s right and not worry about what’s wrong, but obviously you can’t be. So it seems to me you need to be one of ‘the feathers.’ Just like an archer’s arrow, the feathers at the back are what guides the spear. The first feather is God, the second is the boy from Guatemala in the video you sent, and the third feather is you. You’ll figure it out … but right now, from what you tell me, it is way too early.”
“Then, John … how can we in Chattanooga be good stewards?” I asked. “This is the capital of the country when it comes to opening our hearts and our purses when we recognize a mission but this deal we have now makes no sense! The County Mayor hasn’t been contacted. The Health Department does know what is happening. Last Sunday the school system dashed off an e-mail that said these children, despite not having a parent or guardian, must be accepted immediately. Forget immunizations, the terse email said, “accept the child immediately.”
Are you kidding me? This is too reckless. The only thing the ever-inept school system accomplished was to terrify 42,000 families. This week comes the news that before a busload of children is sent into the United States they gather this crowd of kids and administer “quickie” COVID tests in the courtyard of where the children are being held. Those who test negative soon depart while those who test positive are held. Never mind that all of these children have mingled among one another 24/7 for – what? – 10 days. This is a COVID-spreading nightmare. Multiple the transmission of COVID from Mexico’s border by 25,000 times. My mercy.
“Wait a minute…’whoa’ right there.” said John. “A good steward is one who serves that WHICH HE CAN CONTROL. You can’t control the border, you can’t control the government, or the Church of the Nations, or the faceless who-ever-it is. You can’t be a steward over anything you cannot control… Obviously, this is way too early to do anything other than pray that God will watch over the little boy until He calls on you to take a step. The whole thing needs to settle and it will, but if you want to break your heart, try to get involved when there is no opening. Be patient, and let God be God.”
According to reports, over 30 states are taking hurried steps to refuse immigrant children. The reason why is strikingly simple. Thus far the Biden administration has offered no ‘end game.’ That’s right – there is speculation these immigrant children are in something of a staging area in Chattanooga. It is RUMORED they will be in the Highland Park area before leaving. Leaving to where? No one has said. How much does this cost? No one has said. What happens when, at the end of 30 days, there is still no answer? What happens when the government, desperate to place these children, fails at placing them and a newly arriving group doubles the occupancy in our Highland Park dorm?? Then what? There is no script, don’t you see … no “happily ever after.”
As of Tuesday, there were 4,228 unaccompanied children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection, an agency not generally prepared to care for children for prolonged periods, and 16,045 children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees a shelter network. At least 5,000 more children are choking an overburdened system as of today and the cartels are having a field day. The biggest loser? Us.
Maybe Trump was right about the border. I cannot answer but it can said, with vivid examples, my president Joe Biden and his advisors have placed our nation in a precarious situation. This never should have happened, and not in this way. Again, a growing number of states are rising up against Biden’s border catastrophe when, with an apology, and a deep list of truthful and sincere explanations, and with a servant’s heart this could have been avoided.
And, above all, scared and traumatized yet precious children would not weep in our city. To use children as pawns makes me cry too ...
royexum@aol.com