spagetti and pancakes

I think that we as Christians forget the humanous of other fellow believers; involuntarily defining them as superhuman and immortal; free from the battering and flogging that sin openly and lavishly pours out on the rest of us unfortunate souls. As I minister to myself and the choir in these moments, I must say that our index fingers and our straying thought life are pretty good at pointing out the duality that other Christians find themselves living. Modestly speaking, we tend to forget that God has them on a journey too; US not knowing to the slightest degree what the wreckage, from which they have had to scrape themselves off the pavement and walk away from, looks like. Like ourselves, THEY need a river of grace to flood its banks and sweep them away; US being a tiny part of that river that flows beside and beneath them to encourage them into the mighty current of our Lord and Savior.

Like ourselves, God is writing them INTO HIS story; day by day, helping them keep the "old them" buried in the ground where they belong. MY life has been littered with accounts of where I have ACTIVELY dug up the bones of the "old me;" a sad attempt to resurrect someone who should stay in the ground; a finish line where pain and mourning are always waiting to greet the willing with open arms.... a familiar story that you have written for yourselves as well.

... We are not, and have not been exempt from the blatant gunfire of sin; temptation dressed at its finest. All have fallen wounded by the crossfire. But thank God for the power that has been stitched within our very makeup with OUR simple, heartfelt "yes;" that same power that conquered death and beckoned Jesus from the grave; that very same power that comes beside us and treads on sin, and, breaks our hearts for the wounded among us; giving us courage and compassion to take a knee with them and weep.... positioning ourselves to see God work a miracle before our very eyes. Let us not wound the wounded, but, be quick to tend to the mortal's scrapes and gashes that DO exist.

... let us break our fingers, and subsequently, ask God to break our hearts for the not-so-superhero-like.... asking God to open our eyes and ears to see and hear them among the fires.

"Gracious words are a honeycomb; sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24