It’s a story I’ve told many times, about the day my almost three-year old took off on his little red tractor and I couldn’t catch up with him. Seven and a half months pregnant and carrying my then 18month old, I couldn’t run faster than my three-year old could scoot on his tractor. When I saw my tractor scooting son aiming toward 35 W, I was forced to leave my 18-month old on the corner and asks someone to watch him while I ran after his brother. My little one cried his heart out when I left him there. I’ve told this story in three different churches, blogged about it at (Tears of Confusion) and used it in a newspaper column.

I’ve always thought of it as a sweet story, an illustration of God’s love and concern when we are unaware. But, as I prepare to use that story this Sunday, the old story nags at me. When I remember my son’s wails, I cannot get images of immigrant children in cages, crying and desperate for their parents, out of my mind. I think of mom’s and dad’s aching for their children, who they cannot comfort. I think of children weeping in confusion, feeling lost, alone and afraid. I wonder what kind of world, what kind of a nation we are becoming.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren discovered that in one facility children who happen to be in the same building as their parents are considered reunited. Even though the children and parent are being kept in different cages and cannot see or talk to each other. It must cut the heart of Jesus to see events unfolding at the border. Jesus who said “That whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters is the same as doing it to him.” Matthew 25:40

I want to scream at the people responsible for this reprehensible decision. I want common decency to prevail in the immigration crisis. I want our government to listen to the fear and cries of the people. I want intervention in the countries that cannot protect their people from gang violence, so people can live their lives in peace and not feel the need to leave. But meanwhile, I want us to act as the Christian nation we claim to be.