The Facades
Sometimes I'm affected by situations that I am totally unconnected with and should otherwise regard as just another news story in the world.
I first saw on someone's Facebook status yesterday that a recent graduate of Harding University, whom her daughter knew, had been killed by her husband in Memphis and dumped in a nearby river. This morning I received an email from the Christian Chronicle with a news update on the situation. It was basically just facts about her being reported missing by her husband, who then eventually led police to the riverbank where he had dumped her body.
I have no idea who these people are, but the story does have some quotes from others describing this young woman. She apparently was a wonderful, vivacious person. She had done nursing school at Harding so she was obviously ambitious and driven. There was also a mention that she had recently cut her long hair short to give to the Locks of Love charity, which provides natural hair wigs to children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.
But here she is, dead, murdered by a man she obviously trusted enough to dedicate her life to. As I sometimes do, I plugged her name into Facebook, and up popped her profile pic, which - sure enough - was her standing there with a huge smile, holding up her long swath of freshly cut hair. Looking perfectly happy, perfectly normal. By all appearances and accounts, she seemed to be living what most would consider a beautiful life.
But obviously something dark and evil was lurking. Something so evil that it would leave her murdered body at the bottom of a river. I obviously know next to nothing about this whole story, but it starkly reminds me that we simply cannot make assumptions about people and the lives they are living. Seemingly perfect people can have hidden darkness lurking around them, while others who you would never let your kids around turn out to be angels from God.
The whole story of the Church of Christ preacher and his wife in Tennessee was a heavy reminder of this as well. To their church, they were a lovely young family, while at home he was psychologically abusing her to the point she felt justified blowing him away with a shotgun.
So, let's just remind ourselves constantly that appearances matter little. Let's get to the heart of lives around us and be transparent with our own, even if we feel it leaves us looking a little bit like damaged goods. We're all damaged goods, get over it.
I first saw on someone's Facebook status yesterday that a recent graduate of Harding University, whom her daughter knew, had been killed by her husband in Memphis and dumped in a nearby river. This morning I received an email from the Christian Chronicle with a news update on the situation. It was basically just facts about her being reported missing by her husband, who then eventually led police to the riverbank where he had dumped her body.
I have no idea who these people are, but the story does have some quotes from others describing this young woman. She apparently was a wonderful, vivacious person. She had done nursing school at Harding so she was obviously ambitious and driven. There was also a mention that she had recently cut her long hair short to give to the Locks of Love charity, which provides natural hair wigs to children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.
But here she is, dead, murdered by a man she obviously trusted enough to dedicate her life to. As I sometimes do, I plugged her name into Facebook, and up popped her profile pic, which - sure enough - was her standing there with a huge smile, holding up her long swath of freshly cut hair. Looking perfectly happy, perfectly normal. By all appearances and accounts, she seemed to be living what most would consider a beautiful life.
But obviously something dark and evil was lurking. Something so evil that it would leave her murdered body at the bottom of a river. I obviously know next to nothing about this whole story, but it starkly reminds me that we simply cannot make assumptions about people and the lives they are living. Seemingly perfect people can have hidden darkness lurking around them, while others who you would never let your kids around turn out to be angels from God.
The whole story of the Church of Christ preacher and his wife in Tennessee was a heavy reminder of this as well. To their church, they were a lovely young family, while at home he was psychologically abusing her to the point she felt justified blowing him away with a shotgun.
So, let's just remind ourselves constantly that appearances matter little. Let's get to the heart of lives around us and be transparent with our own, even if we feel it leaves us looking a little bit like damaged goods. We're all damaged goods, get over it.
Oh, how I love that last paragraph.
I believe one of the greatest weaknesses of churches today is that we don't accept other people for what we are: sinners. We are all sinners, we all fall short of God's calling. It is because of his unfailing grace and mercy that we are saved - not one of us will stand perfect at the gates of Heaven.
It seems we have some thought in our heads about what a person has to be to be worthy of joining "our" church. Someone who doesn't commit "major sins", someone who has it "together".
We often say we're helping in mission work overseas or in inner-cities and yet we're embedded in a mission field every single day in our own backyard we don't take advantage of. We all have neighbors or family members or friends or friends of friends who are worthy and need to know that same grace and mercy of our God.
I think about the "buzz" when someone goes forward asking for prayers or confessing a difficult time in their life. I think about how it feels we have to look/be a certain way to get involved. I think about the way Christians are perceived today by so many as hypocrites living one life in church and one life at home or work.
Our hearts should be open; appearances should be that of humble sinners...all who are trying their best to worship God. We should not fear confession or asking for help.
These stories are examples of why we have to break down our guard, why we should come together to support each other even in bad times. So there are no more Pate and Winkler family tragedies.
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