It’s been a tough few weeks in our nation. Are you okay? I ask because I care. I ask because I’m not. The recent killings of three unarmed African Americans, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, widened America’s racial divide.

Each tragedy built momentum for a nationwide response. The video of George Floyd’s death, the most recent victim, shows him pleading for his life as a white police officer knelt on his neck.

As the audio revealed Floyd’s repeated gasps of “I can’t breathe,” an old wound ruptured in my soul.

I’m not okay because over 400 years ago, Africans were captured and carried in the hull of slave ships to a foreign land. Before reaching this nation’s shores, they were deprived of oxygen and dignity. Many of them died during the Middle Passage because…you guessed it — they couldn’t breathe.

They couldn’t escape the oppressive system insisting they were less than who God created them to be. And He created us all to be equal.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 NIV)

The Creator’s heart must break when the created distorts His idea of equality. For centuries, people of color have been deprived of the oxygen of equal access to education, economic opportunities and civil rights. I realize we’ve seen some improvements, but huge inequities still exist.

However, the image of God cannot be snuffed out. It stays in you and me. It remains in the thousands of people who are protesting in the streets, spending time in prayer or working on much needed reform behind the scenes.

Cries of outrage need to be heard. Statistics on racial inequities need to be touted. But I’m not okay with more violence, more looting or more destruction of property.

And yet racism persists, unless enough people of good conscience say that’s enough. So, I ask you again, are you okay? As it relates to the recent tragedies, part of me hopes none of us are.

I hope we’re irritated until our voices are heard through our votes. But we also need to be heard by one another.

I welcome the sound of repentance. May it rise from those who perpetuate racism as well as those who benefit from it, but don’t challenge its existence. I hope to hear the sound of forgiveness rise in response to such repentance.

I know there are plenty of societal ills to tackle, but this one shouts. This one warns of worse times ahead, if this time we don’t get it right.

And even if the world misses the point, the church still has to rise. Christ followers are endowed with the ministry of reconciliation. (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19) The race divide needs to be filled with every drop of that endowment.

In this moment, I’m not okay. But I will be. I’ll have the kind of peace that settles in when you know God is righting wrongs. I’ll continue to seek His will for my part in His plan. And after all our soul-searching is done, I pray you’ll be okay too. But none of us will be okay, if we continue to be okay with being divided.