Various friends at the church expressed concern about whether Janice and I saw any of the unrest in Paris when we were there. I had seen a demonstration in Spain–it was just a bunch of people around one person yelling things into a bullhorn, nothing scary or violent. But in France, we only saw demonstrations on the news; while watching European coverage of it, we were provided a bit more insight into what was happening. We did change our plans on the Saturday we left, as someone suggested that we not go downtown that day. That proved to be wise counsel. Instead, we stayed close to the airport.

When we came back, a friend in our church asked if I had seen a clip in the news about a couple sitting inside a café in Paris while fires burned outside. He told me it was quite funny. This article gets printed, so I can’t include a link here like my friend provided me with, but you can look it up.

I’ll describe it to you. This couple is sitting at one of those quintessential Parisian cafés, the only two people in the place. They are sipping coffee and he is smoking. Outside, fires from the violence of the protests burn in two different places on the street behind them. In spite of that, the couple just carry on like nothing is happening. I found it quite humorous. too.

I chuckled at the nonchalantness (the spellchecker doesn’t like my francophone noun) of the couple, they seemed impervious to and quite nonplused by the realities around them. But then I put on my pastor hat and wondered what my chuckle was about. As a Christian, I can look at their attitude in (at least) two ways.

The Bible tells us in Romans 12:15 that we are “to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”  Well, this couple can give the impression that they are completely detached from the pain around them, unconcerned about the danger to the shops around them, and the very café that they were smoking up. As Christians, we find the Bible calling us to identify with, to empathize with, those around us. If the world is falling apart, people need to hear a calm voice, feel a loving embrace, and have their hope rekindled. That’s true for all of us, even in normal times. Are we laughing with those who laugh and weeping with those who weep? The video conjured up that call.

But it also conjured up another image. The image is of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the time of Daniel. Do you remember them? King Nebuchadnezzar II chucked them into a fiery furnace, trying to cremate them because of their unwillingness to bow to a statue of his likeness. When the king looked to see how they were cooking, he counted four people in there instead of three. And all four didn’t even have a singe on them. The fiery mess all around them did not affect them. God kept them in the safety of His palm. Maybe what we should delight in when we see that French video is, that in spite of the fires around them and the unrest that created the fires, those realities did not endanger or scare them or even slow them down.

I am not French. As an American, I don’t think it is mine to opine on the protests. I don’t know the educational issues the kids protested about. And at least, right now, we seem to be insulated from the violence on this side of the pond.  And I don’t know the circumstances of the couple – maybe they had just helped pull some people out of the melee and into an ambulance and were just exhausted and needed a breather. I don’t know. Maybe the whole video was AI generated, who knows.

But it did invite me to remember that God wants us to be involved. God wants us to care. God wants us to trust Him so much that we will go towards the trouble and bring grace whenever we can. And to know that He will walk with us through it all.

Back Stateside,

Craig

“When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 (ESV)