Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Posted by Shannon on August 16, 2006
So what am I running from? This was the question my pastor practically asked last night to us all in our Tuesday night service. (By the way, Greg, is you’re reading this great job.)
I gave a lot of thought to this last night. As I prayed two images/words came into my head and that is divorce and the brokeness of families and West Virginia.
Most everyone knows how I feel about West Virginia sports and the state in general. It’s a love affair. That’s my home. It’s where I grew up. It’s where I was educated and where I raised. I see a lot of hurt and a lot of struggles in that state. I used to get angry when I would hear about mission teams coming to West Virginia. It was a pride thing I guess. Now, looking back, they saw what I see now - a state that needs love and help.
As for brokeness, this is something I’ve experienced throughout my life. We joke in my family that we have the Blosser Curse - destiny for each relationship to fail in divorce. Why is that? What is it about relationships we fail to try to make work anymore in this society? Sometimes you just can’t. For whatever reasons - mistrust, adultry, abandonment - sometimes the marriage fails. When they do, I believe it is the call of the church to embrace them and not shun them away. We need to do a better job in counseling with young adults about marriage and what it means and the struggles that are involved. But I think it ultimately starts with our children and placing in them a love for Christ and a love for family that will carry with them throughout their days.
To this, I am passioned about. I often tell friends that I don’t want to see others experience what I’ve been through, perhaps my story helps others down the road. There is more to that. It is that walk with your brother and sister in Christ in their lives. It’s that connection that teaching about God’s grace and his love for us and how it applies even more in today’s world filed with sin and temptation at every corner.
We can do a better job as a church. I can do a better job as a friend and in whatever road God may use me in this walk in a life of ministry in his service. I feel this in my heart. At times I get scared, like this morning, because the call is overwhelming, the hurt is there, and I don’t want to fail God in this.
