He is Here

I was recently at a Christian Conference sponsored by the Coalition for Christian Outreach called Jubilee. It's an amazing conference targeted towards college students and young adults about how to live out the Gospel in our vocational callings. Amena Brown, a spoken word artist, was there and spoke a few of her poems. They are incredible. When she said the one below I literally felt God...I felt the Holy Spirit more real than I have in a long time. The words she speaks are full of Truth...listen, and be inspired...

Brokeness

This afternoon I had some good, quality conversation with my friend Angela as we took a walk in the Florida sunshine (yep, it's still 80 degrees here...in NOVEMBER!!!). We were discussing a variety of things when our conversation turned to the topic of brokeness. I hear talk of brokeness a lot, but typically it's in the context that we live in a broken world and to me that translates to there is poverty and injustice and no matter what we do to help, those things will all exist until the coming of the new heavens and the new earth. However, as Angela and I talked about it, I realized that it goes a lot deeper than that. Brokeness affects each and every one of us at a very personal level. Whether we admit it or not, every relationship that we have is broken--even the ones that we think are healthy and good. Yes, even those relationships are broken in some way. We are broken, sinful people and it affects the way we love and relate to others. It is only by the blood of Christ that we are able to experience love through others. It's only because Christ lives in us that we are able to love others and be loved. But I think, that at times, it's good to be reminded that we live in a broken world and we are a broken people.

Personally, I know I expect a lot out of relationships (with family, friends, etc) and when I'm disappointed I have a tendency to do a couple of things. First, I want to blame the people who have failed to love me how I feel I should be loved. And I want to do this without understanding the brokeness that they are experiencing in their own lives. Second, I find myself wanting to replace those broken relationships with other relationships that seem to be whole. But the truth of the matter is this--even those "replacement" relationships are broken.

Do any of my thoughts make sense?

I'm definitely not saying that relationships aren't good things. In fact, I believe that God calls us to relational communities. I just think it's good for us to remember that relationships will never be perfect and that we need Christ to bring healing.

If you have thoughts on this, please share. :)

Things Happen

My favorite Felicity quote so far. This is why I love this show.

"I guess when your heart gets broken you sort of start to see the cracks in everything. I'm convinced that tragedy wants to harden us and it's our mission to never let it....I guess I'm learning little by little that we decide what our lives are going to be. Things happen to us, but it's our reaction that matters."

I've been there. My hearts been broken and I've seen everything I've planned out unravel. I've had to pick up the pieces multiple times and had times when I thought I couldn't go on. But every time I've picked myself up and I've made it through. And it seems like every time God provides another piece of the puzzle that is my life. I'm learning that my reaction really does matter--my attitude and outlook are what people see. Especially as a follower of Christ, people are watching to see how I handle tough situations. Unfair and frustrating things happen to all of us. It's all about how we handle them and for me, I know it's about how I let Christ handle my life and how I trust him.

Brilliant

Seriously. "Stuff Christians Like" is the funniest blog I've ever read (followed closely by Sara's blog, from whom I learned about "Stuff Christians Like"). I'm sure you've probably had similar thoughts/responses as this blog author has had. Anyhow, read it. Laugh at it. And then share it. Because it's funny stuff.