I love to read and am a sucker for the fifty cent book sale table at the library.  Recently during my $2.00 splurge I bought a book by Pat Conroy entitled South of Broad.  It was in perfect condition, appealing photo cover, and I was intrigued with his writing style just by reading the first page.  It took longer than usual to read this five hundred page novel and the content was rather rough- a far cry from my beloved historical romance novel!  Over half way through the group of seven friends each with their own amazing story of rising above childhood life tragedies met to discuss the one friend who was no longer with them.  He was the brother of one of the girls and a gifted pianist.  A gay man who had moved to California and the last the sister heard had lost everything and was dying of aids.  The friends made a pack to travel to California and find him to bring him home to die among friends.  The chapter that followed describing the conditions they encountered as they took food through charities to places of filth and squalor was the hardest thing for me to read ever! I was sheltered from such things as a child and as my husband would say incredibly naive to much of the reality of what is said and done in this world.  Here in the middle of this secular book I had a real awakening spiritually.  I heard the song, “Oh how He loves us” over and over in my head as I read.  I’ve sung this song alone and changed the words to “Oh how He loves me” and knew it was true.  I’ve sung it at church with friends and known it was true.  I even sang it in South Africa my only personal mission trip and knew it was true for the children of the Zulu tribe and their families I worked with for two weeks.  Here while reading this book for the first time I was singing it with these fictional characters of men and women lying in squalor and dying of aids.  Very clearly God showed me I haven’t got a clue of the all inclusive expansive reach of His love towards all men.  I repented for not reaching out to a relative who died of aids.  We had never really had relationship, but the truth was I was unable to process separation of the person and the lifestyle at the time so it was easy to just love on the family and ignore the person.

 

There is something else.  I recently attended the funeral of someone who overdosed on cocaine.  I was close to the family and had met the person, but did not know them at all. Knowing the circumstances I was amazed to meet this person through the eyes of those who did know her.  She was unique.  Someone who loved animals and cared about suffering people- especially elderly neighbors- she was active in prayer ministry.  The message she left was that it was ok not to be perfect.  Again I heard the song in my head and heart “Oh how He loves us” and again I found myself repenting for my lack of understanding how God loves. 

 

Never has the world been more troubled in my view than it is today.  May I be known for sharing the unconditional love of God to all I come in contact with.  May I not only NOT judge others behavior, but refrain from even an opinion.  I would be speaking about someone God loves……………..