Beyond Broken

***FAIR WARNING: This blog post contains emotions and 

'theories' that WILL offend. If it does in fact offend, please

take note that I try to be very careful about my words...most of the time.  

If you are still offended, get your own blog and write about it...that's the beauty of living 

in a democracy.***

The heaviness of this world seems more real this week.  There are so many 

events and realities coming to light that have taken the jagged edges and cracks we see on a daily basis in this world and have shattered them into a million pieces.  

There's no tip-toeing around the chunks or glancing at 

a small chip as you walk by, barely noticing the flaws.  Nope.  It's full on broken, in the 'no putting it back together kind of way'.

There are so many emotions that come from these events.  I've felt them all.

And yet, I'm amazed at our ability to put all of our energy into 'righting the wrong' instead

 of 'loving our neighbor'. 

To clarify, I'm not talking about EXCUSING, but FORGIVING and bringing healing and 

restoration.

The men who set off the bombs that killed innocent people and completely altered the lives 

of many others should be held accountable for their actions.

The man who is on trial for conducting late term abortions and killing babies that are born alive, as well

as causing the death of a mother, should be held accountable for his actions.

I'm not talking about excusing those who take the lives of others or turning around and walking away like 

these things aren't happening. 

I'm talking about remembering that Jesus came into this world to bring hope.  He didn't come 

to right this world, he came to redeem it. Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines the word

redeem as this: 'to buy back, to get or win back, to free from captivity by payment of ransom, 

to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental'.  

He knew it was broken, and yet he came.  He breathed in the dust, he felt

the literal pain of physical and emotional harm.  He did not fix it, but offered

hope.  Yes, someday he WILL fix it,  but that's a whole 'nother subject.

Jesus came to bring hope to the broken, to love the unlovable, and ultimately to bring 

eternal life. He did not come to point the finger or to hold grudges. He didn't even come with a 

political agenda, if anything he came with quite the opposite and that is part of 

what got him murdered.

If we want to truly learn from Jesus and show other's His hope we have to surrender our own 

pride, our own agendas and let Him do the work-sometimes through us, and sometimes not.

Yes the thought of a baby life being stopped against it's own will makes me want to vomit.  

Just seeing our small baby slip from my body at 8 weeks, seeing its head, buds for arms and legs all

'safe' inside a sack of fluid was too much too bear.  No, I don't think that abortion is the answer to 

an unplanned pregnancy.

 The reality, though, is that it's going to happen.  This world is BROKEN...and this is nothing new.

Have you read the Old Testament or history books?!?!  People used to sacrifice their 

children, burying them in the walls and foundations of their cities to please their gods.  This 

kind of still happens today in religions like Hatian Vodou or in tribes in the deep of Africa, where some children are outcast or killed because they are deemed evil or because the gods are 'angry'.

In famines they would eat their children. 

Not so long ago, and heck, probably even today, abortions were performed in bathtubs with coat hangers. 

This is not the first, nor the last time a bomb will kill innocent people.  I'll never forget touring the 

U.N. when I was in high school.  This was pre-9-11, when tours were still offered. 

There was a beautiful sculpture, probably 5 or 6 feet tall, of a well covered Asian woman.  

The front side looked very normal, but when you walked around to the back it was melted. Stone...melted.  It was recovered after the Atom Bomb hit in Hiroshima in 1945.  

Wars have and will be a reality.  Men and women will sacrifice their lives whether they die on the front lines

or whether they suffer from PTSD after returning to civilian life.  It is a tragic tragic event either way. 

So how do we respond with forgiveness when it all is too much to bear?!? Seriously?  Don't give me some 

canned answer or say 'it will all be okay, life just goes on'.  

What if we truly relied on Christ, the only one who can forgive and bring healing, to show others compassion

and unconditional love?  What if we stopped making our 'agenda' known and started loving that 

teenager who just had an abortion and is flat out BROKEN from it?  What if we loved her in spite of 

the choice she made?  

What if we prayed for those who plot to kill us?  Or those who don't know the Truth that set's captives free? 

Are we spending as much energy praying, pleading, begging our Heavenly Father to show up in a very real

way and use measly us to be instruments through which he brings love and light to this 

sad world as we are spending glued to the news waiting to see if the 'manhunt' has ended?

What if we set down the mouse and stopped posting every unbelievable disgrace that 

our 'government' is committing on our Facebook page and spent that time praying for 

our President or other key leaders in this world?  

Not just that they would miraculously align with all of our political views, 

but that they would truly

come to know the healing grace and power that only Christ brings.  That they would 

experience grace and forgiveness-that they would be redeemed.

People, let's start loving and stop being shocked at the sin of others while failing to see 

the dirt...or blood...on our own hands. 

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."  Ephesians 4:32

"Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." "  Luke 23:34

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you."  Colossians 3:13