Saturday, January 2, 2010

Resistance Transmission #3: Pain and the Intersection.

*Begin Transmission*

The year 2009 was a horrible year for a lot of people. I know personally it was the most trying year of my life. Even news networks are saying the same thing. From finances to relationships, 2009 seemed like doom was coming to us all. Most of us often times forgot that we have Christ, the all sufficient Savior. I do admit, it is hard to keep your focus, especially when your world is turned upside down. Let me give you some examples:

• A college junior finds out that his mother has both breast and lung cancer. Treatment of one will interfere with treatment of the other. As the doctors find out what to do, he is consumed by depression. Being at home kills him, yet being away from home causes him to feel guilty. Life, it seems, is bringing on the pain.

• A 17 year old girl goes to a dry party, only to have the host shove her into a room and rape her. She’s a virgin, and as he begins she realizes she can’t overpower him. She asks that he at least uses protection. He laughs at her and refuses, carrying out the deed. He yells at her as she cries, and leaves her alone when finished. She is left feeling used, broken, and in physical and emotional pain. Ashamed, she goes home, scared to tell a soul and scared she may be pregnant. She has nowhere to turn.

• A college freshman has her world shattered when her ex-boyfriend publishes a revealing note on Facebook in an incompetent attempt to apologize to friends. Not only do her parents find this, but so does everyone on the Internet. Public embarrassment, severe depression, and near expulsion from a Christian university builds up. She feels alone. Everyone treats her like a whore. On top of this, the ex’s parents begin to harass her. Things begin to worsen, and it seems all hell has come for a visit.

All three are real events that happened to real people in 2009. There are many more, better and worse, but these are just to name a few. Yet, I did not mention one thing. All three of these people have found that despite their sufferings, the sufferings of Christ will get them through. He was all they had left. They defied the Corrupt System. They are part of the Resistance. They learned from James by realizing that all these things made them stronger (James 1:2-3). In turn, they have saved lives and helped others because they themselves survived their darkest moments. They found the intersection of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the Narrow Way. They saw that Christ had crossed the Boulevard as He established the Way. He made an alternative route for us, so that we didn’t have to walk the Boulevard that the Corrupt System has to offer. These people became guides though the Boulevard and led others to the Way. All because Christ died and made the Way.

I don’t know what most of you have went through this past year. But I can tell you this: HOLD ON. You cannot give up. If you have not found the Way, you will. You sufferings can be shared and even taken away by Christ. In Him you can find rest.
This was not intended to be a long post, but rather a short encouragement for the coming year. I pray that you all will find blessings in the hope of Christ during 2010. May Christ be with you always.

Grace and Peace.

*End Transmission*

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