Grace Never Shakes Its Head:

I once heard someone say, "You may be the only Jesus that someone ever meets." This is a very deep statement if we actually think about it in the framework outside of ourselves. We can easily take it in as a challenge to be perfect; or we can take it as a statement of grace. As I was reading Brennan Manning's book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, I was convicted by these amazing words that I feel closely coincide with idea of being the only Jesus someone may ever meet, "whatever our failings may be, we need not lower our eyes in the presence of Jesus." Hear me out, in no way am I claiming to be Christ. However, I am proclaiming the truth that I am His hands and His feet. I loosely throw this out, that I am the active, working, visual reflection of Jesus in a tangible, graspable, every day human form. I am saying that we, us, you and me, as individual people are Christ in the flesh. As unfavorable issues arise, issues that I would most definitely want forgiveness and grace poured for me, I have so often put my head down and shaken it in disgust; all the while claiming, I am His hands and His feet. This only portrays one visual of grace; that He will also put His head down and shake it in disgust and arrogance. How many eyes have looked to me for the reassurance that maybe today, maybe today's the day that they will see Jesus in all of his mercy and grace, and I was shaking my head, saying, "You're not worthy, and His grace was not for you. You're not together enough for this grace."

Grace doesn't drop and shake it's head, portraying a deep and unmistakable view of un-forgiveness and shame, it always invites us to raise our eyes in the presence of a loving and gracious savior who says, "Come to life, which has been given so that you may have it to the full."

Cleaning Wounds:

Cleaning a wound is not easy or free of pain. It actually often feels better in the moment to allow for the cut to sit and fester; hoping it will just take care of itself over time. The human body and the human spirit are two of the most restorable things that you will find in all of creation. In my time traveling the world though, I saw many people whose bodies had healed but they were left with a limp because the bone was never set correctly, or a small mountain of tissue on a wrist inhibited full movement due to the infectious growth that had gone untreated. Our spirits will often heal the best that they can without being set, or cleaned; but will it now try and enjoy the beauty of life inhibited by unhealthy scarring, or effort much harder while trying to run with a limp, continuing to avoid what may once again be a painful leap. We must allow our spirit, not unlike our physical bodies, to go through the pain of being set when broken, or cleaned out when torn; no matter how painful in the moment; to once again be as close to fully healed as possible. We are made to be whole and to continually find that whole-ness. But how? How do we search the depths of ourselves and find ourselves once again, whole, if we choose to believe that we alone hold the ability to reconcile the damage that has been done. These are questions that I have been asking myself as I continue to daily find strength and stability in the framework of Christ. I don't even understand that as I type this; I don't understand how brokenness can become whole again. It is a complete miracle by all accounts. I must say that my faith is founded on complete redemption of a Father who loves me dearly and who will over time, set my broken spirit and clean my dirty wounds, and when my spirit shall once again be trampled and downtrodden, He will set me straight with the comforting words, "Do you really trust that I am The Redeemer who will continue take all of your brokenness and make it new?"

I hold fast to these words from 1 Corinthians 1:18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.