destroyed in the quake. We walked into the enclosed area with the
mountain of rubble that was his home and glanced around at bits of
furniture, walls, doors and other things that piled up on the ground.
“I was not home in the
afternoon of January 12th,” he told us. “It is not easy to talk about
this. My dad was here, though, with my sister and her kid. This is where
they found my dad,” he said, pointing. “It is not easy to talk about
this, he repeated. He was eating dinner. They pulled my sister out here.
Her son was tucked under her arm. They were both dead. It is not easy
to talk about this.”
I envisioned what it must have been like, as
the ground started to shake. She probably grabbed her son and didn’t
know what to do but hold him close. It wasn’t long before the house
collapsed around them. And as it did, she shielded her son with her own
body.
“How do you do it?” one of the girls on the team asked
Ramsey through tears. “How do you continue to follow God?”
I
don’t remember all that he said, but one thing did stick with me. “This
is life.”
This man gets
brokenness and death as a huge part of life that most of us don’t.
I’ve
been realizing more and more recently how broken humanity is. The
reality I grew up with in America shows me that darkness in my society
is covered and hidden deep within. It’s kept hidden in our injured
hearts by clever wit, snippy sass, passive aggression and sarcasm that
cuts at people’s insecurities. Somehow we feel better by putting others
down. Here’s a phrase I like, “Hurt people hurt people.”
We’re
all human, though, injured by the humanity of others. We may be trying
to recover, but too afraid of being hurt again to trust another. Some
may hurt us, but I know a good amount of people who thrive on bringing
life and inner healing to others.
I challenge you to be
vulnerable. Find a safe, trustworthy person and talk about the pain
that’s hard to even mention. There is strength and healing on the other
side of pain, a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Sometimes I have thought that the light of Christ shines most brightly from within us during those times of dark circumstances.
Our resolute witness in the midst of tribulation fortifies those who are witness to it– even more-so, I believe, then than when we’re cruising along fat and happy.
God says:
“In the furnace of much affliction
I have chosen you. Behold…
For your iron I’ll give you silver;
for your brass I’ll give you gold.”
This is a wonderful reminder. Thank you. I tell people while we should not get stuck our pain is the platform for ministering to others. I don’t trust someone without a limp.