Personal Connection

This morning in my class I teach in prison I posed the question what is one injustice that bothers/makes you angry about the world? There was a wide range of answers, rants, and well thought out statements. The injustices didn't have much in common one said ignorance, another said bullying, a former rodeo star said the mistreatment of animals. But what each of them did have in common it was personal. There was a personal connection to each injustice they shared. Will who shared about bullying talked about how he was bullied as a child for wearing glasses and coming to school smelling like cigarette smoke. That clearly made a mark on his life and it has become something that he will never forget. All of us have had different experiences that have left indellible marks on us. We have felt hurt, pain, sadness, anger, and rage about injustices that we have felt personally. It is through these feelings that people begin to do something. In my situation I would not have ever given two thoughts to someone in a wheelchair or the care that goes into taking care of someone with those needs. I'm not sure what a normal life is, but I don't know many people who haven't been effected by some sort of roadblock in life. I don't know too many that haven't been affected by something that was unplanned. I have been recently been reading a book called Anonymous Jesus Hidden years. One of the anologies that the book uses that our lives are like icebergs only about 10% are above the water (meaning what people can see). The other 90% is hidden and what we do in our personal lives. A quote from that same chapter says "I feel that trials do not prepare us for what is to come as much as they reveal what we have done with our lives up to this point." How are we dealing with the disapointments, unmet expectations, and just ordinary life situations? Life doesn't go as planned in most of our lives and are prepared not only to deal with it, but use it to glorify God? There is a huge difference from surviving to overcoming. It is so easy to identify the injustices but it is a whole lot more difficult to get overcome it and help others coming behind you on the same path.