The Redemption of All Things Broken

  Recently on my days off I tend to spend a lot of time at the beach just lying in the sun, listening to the crashing waves, and reading. This week I was reading When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. In this book the authors said that the work of Jesus is to redeem all that has been so deeply marred by sin. As a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Lord’s redemption lately. Little did I know how I was going to see this redemption unfold in all of its glory this week…

    I was sitting on the beach reading because I was trying to let go of the stress and frustration of the past week. Any of you who have or have worked with teenagers will know that they can be incredibly frustrating. This has been one of those weeks for me. Lindsay and I were here leading alone with Diego, Tommy, and Linda all in the States. The first half of our time leading alone went really smoothly, but in the last couple of days we have had a lot of problems with disrespect of us and of the church. The first problem was with some of the boys speaking disrespectfully or saying vulgar things to Lindsay and I and then laughing because we didn’t understand their street slang Spanish. The other problem was with a couple of the kids drinking, not on the church property, but coming to the church drunk.
    It was a hard week for me because all of the stuff that was happening with the youth was happening with some of the teenagers that I’m closest to. Honestly it really hurt that the people that were disrespecting me were the same people that I consider to be my family here. I felt like a thousands things were happening all at the same time. In the midst of all of this Pastor Walter, Bismark, and Alex (the church leaders), came to Lindsay and I letting us know that they knew about the disrespect and weren’t going to allow it to continue. They told us that they were going to step in and talk to the boys. I should have been relieved and grateful, but some hidden fear rose up inside of my heart. I couldn’t even explain why I felt this unsettled feeling in my heart so the next morning when I awoke at 5:30 I remained in my bed talking to Jesus, following Him deeper into my heart and following the winding path of feelings that I still didn’t understand.
    What I found surprised me. I discovered an unhealed place in my heart that God wanted to speak to in order to bring truth and healing. There was a part of my heart that feared failure in places where God has called me. Having the pastors step in to talk to the boys immediately brought forth all of the lies that they are stepping in because I couldn’t handle it. The Lord began to speak truth about all of the work that the He was doing through me and the good that is happening as a result of me being here. God was also speaking to me about the pastors. First that this is the way that He is being my Dad taking care of me and protecting me. Secondly, I have been praying for the Lord to transform the men of this community. I have been praying that they will step up and become men of integrity and lead their families and their community well. This was an answer to prayer; the beginning of the Lord transforming the men of this community. Suddenly I could feel gratitude both toward the Lord and toward our church leaders.
    The longer I was in my bed listening to the Lord speak to me, the more my heart turned to worship as I saw all that He was redeeming both in me and in this community. Here was a situation that I thought was just about the hearts of my teenagers, but the Lord wanted to use it for so much more. He was in the midst of redeeming the broken places in my heart, the brokenness in the community, and the broken lives of my teenagers.
    After the Lord spoke His sweet words over me and changed my perspective, I was prepared to partner with Him in this redemption. I spent all afternoon Sunday having one-on-one disciplinary conversations with my teenagers. This is definitely not my favorite part of my job, but the Lord was at work in the midst of it. We also had a time of address disrespect and giving people a chance to take responsibility for their actions and seek forgiveness in front of the group. It was beautiful and powerful to see as each of the teenagers involved came forward, took responsibility and sought forgiveness. As Henri Nouwen says, “Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”
    Here was a frustrating and hurtful situation that I thought only affected a handful of teenagers, but it was through this situation that the Lord wanted to redeem and restore so many broken things. This is the work of Jesus to redeem all that has been so deeply marred by sin. This week I saw the vastness of God’s glorious redemption at work.