As we traveled back home, I couldn’t help but be grateful. A few years back, I wouldn’t have imagined that we would have made it to see our 15th anniversary. We both were broken, hurting, discouraged, and drifting apart. Nevertheless, Jesus had other plans for us.
At that time, I was absolutely clueless of the crime that I had committed. Nevertheless, the choir director’s contorted face resounded of disappointment…. With nowhere to run, I braced myself for the inevitable. I was in for the lecture of a lifetime.
My adventures in cyberspace have led to some amazing connections. This past year, I had the privilege of meeting a fellow life coach and soul-sister, Jena Harris. Recently she gave me the honor being her guest on her Soulfood Sundays podcast.
Although I am already an avid fan of acoustic sets, I find myself in a deeper level of musical euphoria when gospocentric stories of grace are linked into the melody. This describes my exact experience when I recently heard Mark Bowen’s (of Isla Vista Worship) live performance of their new single, “Captured.”
My initial reaction was nausea… then the nausea was followed by deep sorrow…. My heart hurt for this young man. I’m almost sure that he was completely blind-sighted by the backlash caused by his shirt. I’m positive that all he wanted to do was share the gospel. Instead, he was tar and feathered by two bitter crows.
I was aware of her traumatic childhood. I was also aware of how it had impacted her life. Her father was extremely abusive to her mother and to the family. In fact, she bore a small scar near her eye from a brick that her father had flung at her when she was little. Her experiences caused her to be abrasive in her interactions at times. She could be distrusting of people and it took a while to gain her trust.
“Hey John,” he said, “You get picked on a lot, at school, don’t you?” For a moment I paused. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to answer his question. If I chose to be honest, maybe he’d show some compassion. But in my fourteen years of living, I came to understand that compassion was not an adverb that was commonly used to describe teenage boys. If one existed, he would surely have to be placed on an endangered species list.
As a child, I had a hard time understanding why my dad would wake us up at the break of dawn. Nevertheless, his internal clock was equivalent to that of a rooster.
