Blue Jeans & Jesus

You are not too broken, to be useful to God. Your past, your sins, your failures? None of it renders you useless. It is, in fact, those stories and those scars that make you a powerful voice, a bright shining light and the ideal person to draw others to Him. Let that sink in for a minute. No, really. Hurting, broken, scarred people don't find hope in perfection. They don't find grace in carefully cultivated, social media friendly flawlessness. Often, they find the opposite. Hopelessness, shame, and 'proof' that they are too far gone to be loved by God, let alone used by Him. They see the good, the peaceful home, the successful career, the seeming lack of anything negative. The credit going to God for all of it. The testimony, such as it is, of how it is a reward for being a "good" Christian. A good steward, a faithful tither, and so on. None of it, or little of it, mirrors the broken person's story or experience. The broken person reads these things, see...

Monday will mark 3 weeks that my state has been under shelter in place orders due to COVID-19. I am not a super social person to begin with. Nearly physically crippling social anxiety mixed with mild autism will do that to a person. Even so, the forced seclusion brought on by the corona virus has been a challenge. Especially mentally. All of my usual outlets are closed. Can't work, go to the gym, or go down to Southern Indiana and walk along the Ohio River. I could do alright without one or two of these things, I think. but having no outlet has been a real struggle. Early on I, like many people I know, experienced serious stress and panic. The stores were out of basic supplies {shipments of toilet paper are still gone in seconds in my area}, the internet and air waves full of conspiracy theorists and end-times zealots. In nearly an instant everything about life changed. One by one most of my friends found themselves working from home, or without a job entirely, homeschooling desp...