The goings on in Minneapolis

 My heart is heavy as I take in the news of the goings on in Minneapolis.

As an American conservative, seeing the defiance of Minneapolis's mayor, Jacob Frey, openly defy ICE while they are doing the job I and countless Americans voted for, breaks my heart because once upon a time I wanted to call this city home.

I went to college in a small town about 40 miles south of the Twin Cities. I wanted to get out of state (because I just did), and at this time in my life I was used to the idea of moving across states every few years. There were (and still are) things about Chicago I didn't really like, and living in the city itself at the time those issues were front-and-center.

Minnesota was different. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar to me, as I had relatives in the upper part of the state that I used to see more regularly during the first half of my childhood. I didn't exactly fall in love with my college town (as a city boy, the country life didn't suit me). But anytime I visited the Twin Cities (especially St. Paul, but Minneapolis too) I felt, this is the place. Honestly, St. Paul was my vote for a place to retire and spend my golden years. (I think my idea as an early-twenty-something was to live in warm places for most of my adulthood, but then retire to St. Paul when I wouldn't care so much about wanting to go out (and thusly, the winter cold wouldn't matter as much).)

It was a major reason why I was quite heartbroken in late 2009 at the thought of having to leave Minnesota. Yes, I felt like an adult in Minnesota in ways I never could in Chicago (although that too did change after I moved back), but the idea of falling in love with a place only to have it ripped from me was devastating for quite a while. I remember in 2010, my thought process was to stay in Chicago "for the winter" and then try to apply for work in the Twin Cities come springtime of that year. Yeah, that never happened. Vineyard happened. New friendships and new communities happened, (and new women interests, too) and by April of that year the plan to return immediately to Minnesota was dead.

Around 2018, I did feel the tug to try to move out of Chicago once again. At that point, the prior 8 years was the longest I had ever stayed in one place at one time. To wit, below is a brief timeline of the general areas where I lived throughout my life:

• Birth to three months: Chicago area; duration three months
• Three months to two years and three months: Houston, TX area; duration two years
• Two years and three months to eleven years (plus several months): Chicago area; duration roughly nine years (give or take a few months)
• Age eleven to age fifteen: New York City; duration four years, not counting summers and other breaks when I returned to Chicago to visit family
• Age fifteen to age nineteen: Chicago area; duration four years
• Age nineteen through the end of 2009: Minnesota, specifically my college town; duration five years plus several months, again not counting some summers and breaks where I returned to Chicago to visit family
• End of 2009 to the present: Chicago area, even with moving from city to suburb to different suburb to yet a different suburb; duration sixteen-plus years and counting

The point is, by 2018, even though I understood it was unrealistic the thought of me picking a random different city to move to (I wasn't even thinking about Minneapolis or Minnesota at this point!), that urge to move was still inside of me. Even though I had long crossed the "every four or five years" pattern, I still was keenly aware of running up against my then-record of nine years of staying in one place.

Then I met my ex, who lived in suburban New York City. Among other issues that came up between us, I realized that I did not want to move there (said realization took about a year after we had begun dating), and I told her so once that became clear to me. In a weird way, that relationship and that experience helped to reset my internal body clock (I don't really know how else to describe it) regarding my expectation of "it's time to pack up and move."

Interestingly, also in 2018 (and before I met my ex) I made my last trip to Minneapolis to visit some Chicago-area friends who had moved up there years ago. I didn't go to my college town or any other Minnesotan town. I remember during the two-and-a-half days I was there, I wrestled with what had become only a faint longing and a question about whether Minneapolis could still someday become home. After not too much reflection, I reasoned it unrealistic, owing to the fact that, by this point, I had established a life in the Chicago area, to the point that the cost (financial, mental, emotional) would be too much. I then brushed the thought away. Aside from returning in October 2019 for a friend's wedding in Stillwater on the eastern border of the state (i.e. the side nearest to Chicago), I've not set foot in Minnesota since.

The riots in Minneapolis and the uncovering of the truth about the Somalian immigrants, almost all of whom are illegal, that have at this point galvanized the city (and the state, politically), I believe God pointed out to me that, among other reasons, He saw this coming and decided it best that He get me out of there. Although there is a very small sting that likely will never go away this side of heaven, the dominant feeling I felt was, yeah, it was good that You did that, as hard as it was at the time.

It's interesting, though, because in many ways both the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois are more corrupt, and have been for far longer than Minneapolis / Minnesota have been. And yet, I believe there's something that God knows about the spirituality of both cities and states that I don't, that led Him to conclude that this was a better long-term spot for me. Additionally, toward the end of my time in Minnesota, my community was pretty much dwindled to my housemate, my landlords, my three or four closest college friends, and not much else. I was in a local choir for four months, but in terms of a steady, stable community that could help pull me up and support me while I get my adult legs under me, that was not going to be found among that group. Ergo the Vineyard, plus my folks, plus other friends-of-friends that ultimately became friends.

I support President Donald Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, because why should people like Jacob Frey and Tim Walz (who I didn't vote for) -- let alone people like JB Pritzker in my own state (who I also absolutely never voted for, not even before 2020 when he was first running for governor) -- why should they control my life and dictate what freedoms I can and cannot have? As far as I'm concerned, this is an open-and-shut case, and I'm looking forward to having order restored, both in Chicago and Minneapolis, as well as everywhere else. 

But until that day comes, my heart remains broken because I remember what that city once was and what I think it could have been.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15, NKJV