They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. – Micah 2:2

Today's Scripture Reading (April 29, 2026): Micah 2

I have some good friends who lived through the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. They were Congolese Tutsi who found themselves on the wrong side of a tribal conflict. Some of the stories they tell reflect the terror of the moment. The Hutu-led government perpetrated the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi people. And while we can date the Rwandan genocide to April 7 to July 19, 1994, the struggle between the Hutu and the Tutsi continues even today in East Africa.

One story I heard before I had any connection with the Hutu and Tutsi of that area was a story specifically from the genocide. The storyteller was a moderate Hutu, and during the genocide, he had been part of the movement that attempted to move the Tutsi out of the area. Every night, he would smuggle Tutsi from his house to the next site on an underground railroad reminiscent of the railroad that smuggled enslaved people from the Southern United States to the Northern free states or Canada. This man had a feud with his neighbor, who suspected that he was doing something wrong. As a result of his suspicions, and maybe just coveting what his neighbor had, this man would throw rocks at his children when they left for school in the morning or on their way home in the afternoon. It was not a time in his children's lives when playing outside was an advisable activity.

One afternoon, he looked outside to see one of his kids lying in the street, bleeding from the head. A rock, thrown by this neighbor, had connected in just the right spot with the force necessary to send the child into unconsciousness. It was the moment the man decided he had to quit his position in the Underground Railroad and take his family to safety. The next night, he smuggled his family out of the country using the same railroad that he had used to help so many Tutsi in the past.

How many people died in Rwanda is hard to ascertain. But it pales in comparison to the pain that has been spread throughout the area, and that refugees still suffer through today, more than three decades later. The storyteller of the Rwandan story returned home after the genocide to find another family had moved into his home. It was the brother of the next-door neighbor who had thrown rocks at his children. Maybe that had been the motive of his neighbor's action all along. The storyteller finished his story by discussing the steps he took to get his house back, as well as the effort he made to forgive his neighbor and rebuild their relationship. For me, the most embarrassing part of the story is that while he tried to repair a relationship when he had every right to hold a grudge, we often build up lifelong feuds over Facebook posts.

Micah's comment is a warning to those who plot evil against the people with whom they come into contact. They covet what others have and seek ways to steal it. It is the neighbor's attitude in the story, and sometimes it is ours too, but it can't be. In Christ, I am commanded to want the best for everyone in my life, even when they don't want the best for me.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Micah 3