It feels like this year has been caked with excessive violence. I've heard more about police brutality and police killings this year than any other year.

My newsfeed is flooded with #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter hashtags.

I see a lot of people complaining. I see a lot of people praying.

I see people hurt and confused.

I see people dead.

The world is a dark dark place these days. But that doesn't mean we can't find the light. The night is always darkest before the dawn. As a Christian I firmly believe that Christ will return. But nothing has rocked my faith more than all of this violence. I'm not directly affected. But my heart is constantly being broken by the world. Sometimes no matter how much I pray more violence, more needless deaths keep happening.

The Bible tells us:

Jesus then tells the people he is teaching the story of the Good Samaritan. Most people have heard some version of this. Your neighbor is everyone around you. Love one another. Sounds really simple yet there is so much hate in the world we have become blind to love, even indifferent to love.

This isn't a race thing. This isn't a religion thing. This isn't a sexuality thing. What it comes down to is hate and love. We hate those who are different. We hate those who disagree. We hate the ones who are our "enemies." We need to love those who are different. We need to love those who disagree. We need to love our enemies. The most difficult thing is to love those around you who don't deserve it. But you should know we get it everyday through God's grace. We don't deserve his love yet he gives it to us even paying the ultimate sacrifice for us to die for all of us.

It doesn't matter what faith you are or even if you believe in nothing, most people agree that killing people is wrong. We need to solve the problem. And in order to do that we need to address the real problem. It's not about race or profession or religion or sexuality. It's a society that would rather destroy itself than unify and love. The violence can stop. Love and peace is attainable. I believe it.

I was raised in a home to be a friend to all. We can strive for peace. We need better education, better understanding, and better communication. But it all starts with just being a friend to all. No matter how bad it gets we must band together: all races, all religions, all sexualities, and all differences. We always need a friend. We always need love.

"Darkness can not drive out the darkness; only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate; only love can do that."