the fragile room

 When I was younger my family used to visit my grandparents in Clarksville about every other weekend. My siblings and I loved the weekend trips when we got to explore unfamiliar and old-smelling closets, use ancient machinery like a typewriter or record player, play games and cards for hours, or play dress-up with our mothers once-stylish dresses and jewelry, all the while being the absolute center of the world for our Nanny and Grandaddy who were completely captivated by each of us individually and together. There was one room in my Nanny's house that she called the "living room." It was complete with pink carpet, a pink chair, the most uncomfortable sofa you could imagine, coffee tables and end tables and a cedar chest covered with breakable things like crystal plates and porcelain birds and glass bells. It smelled different from the rest of the house, and it was [with good reason] off limits. The only reason we were to spend time in the living room was if we were working a puzzle or playing a quiet card game. The door stayed shut, and the adults would say "There are breakable things in there. It's no place for horseplay or toddlers or rambunctious kids." So as we grew and our vocabularies increased, we began to refer to it as "the fragile room." We knew that the fragile room was full of fragile things that could shatter into thousands of pieces and be gone forever if they slipped from our slippery fingers.

Sometimes I think about this world, and I wonder if the Earth had a huge "Fragile Room" what would be inside? Recently I have been reminded of something that would fit there better than anything else: life. Even in my short 24 years of living I can attest to this statement, that this earthly life is a fragile thing that can and does shatter into a thousand pieces and is gone forever at the command of the One who gives and takes away. We may learn hundreds of different ways that this is true, but it does not make it any less painful when we are reminded yet again of the fragility of life and the certainty of death.

Many of you will remember baby KenKen who I had the privileged of caring for during my time in Haiti. He was 9 months old and weighed 9 pounds the first night in October that he slept in my bed. We soon learned that he and his mother both had HIV. Since October we have helped to educate them and get them resources as well as provide what we could for KenKen. To our surprise and only by the work of God, KenKen began to recover! In December we celebrated his 1st birthday, and by January he had cut teeth and grown hair. He continued to grow and get stronger, and as we all watched our faith in Christ grew and got stronger as well. He gave hope to so many who felt they were a lost cause. Praise God for using this tiny baby to teach so many people so much. After spiking a fever and being taken to the hospital, baby KenKen died on May 18th. His funeral was today and his tiny body was laid to rest. Please be in prayer for his mother.

October 2011

May 2012

The Bible tells us that life is only a vapor that is here for a short time and then disappears. How true that is. If you do not know Jesus, now is a good time friends. Let me tell you in short the TRUTH of the Gospel, in case you've never heard:
- We are all sinners. Born that way. Never going to be good. [Rom 3:10]
- We do not and will never deserve or be able to earn Heaven.
- Sin must be paid for. Either we must pay, or someone else must pay for us. [Rom 6:23]
- God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins and to pay the price so that we will not have to. [John 3:16]
- The only way to get to God in Heaven is through Jesus. [John 14:6] This means that, despite what America would tell you with our watered down version of Christianity, being a "good person" is not enough. This means that if your "good outweighs the bad" or if you are "doing better than most people" you are no more getting into Heaven and sharing in God's glory than someone who curses God's name.
-Once you accept Christ and surrender completely to Him, your heart will be more free than you can imagine, and you will be beyond blessed by living with the assurance that you are never alone and that one day, you will see His face. I know friends, because I experienced life without Christ for 20 years, and I now live with this freedom I'm telling you of.

Don't wait. Seek the Truth and find it in Him. Tomorrow may be too late. After all, life is in the fragile room for a reason.