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BrokenTile

As I mentioned in my last post, Ben and Dani have been doing some remodeling on their "new to them" house. Here in Brazil that usually means renting a dumpster and filling it with all of the refuse from years gone by.

I have been helping with the clean-up, for some reason that seems to be my specialty. Anyway, as many of you know, tile is the "carpet" here in Brazil. Everything is either tiled or bare cement. As you can imagine (or maybe you can't) when you remove tile from floors and walls it makes a huge mess and is also very dangerous. Broken tile is a lot like broken glass. I have little cuts and nicks on my hands and arms as proof.

As I looked at the piles and piles of broken tile in every possible square centimeter of the house I thought of how so many of our people here have lives that look like that broken tile. Tile when it's just out of the box is lovely. There are innumerable textures, patterns, and styles to choose from and it can be shiny, or dull, glittery, or plane, but each type has it's unique character.

As my thoughts turned from broken tile to broken lives I began to make some comparisons. Even though we are born in sin, each person begins with a life that has so much potential in the master's hands. In fact we were created after the perfect pattern, God Himself. There are so many different possibilities, and prospect. But as we proceed in life (and it doesn't take long) we break that perfect pattern into unrepairable ruin. There are so many shards and specks that even an expert couldn't reconstruct a tiny semblance of what once was beauty.

That is where God finds us, irreparably damaged. But aren't you glad for 2Corinthians 5:17 which says, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (literally creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. God gives hope where there is none. He can repair broken lives and hearts. He can bring beauty where once only ruin showed it's ugly face. And only He can. How does He make beautiful what was once destroyed? Through His marvelous grace as we open our heart and life to Him (cp. John 1.12). Have you discovered that grace?

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