King Nebuchadnezzar

"Have you ever had a broken heart?" was your question. And boy is that a tough/great one.

My heart is broken daily. I used to be very callous and self-centered. I didn't care much about the welfare of others. The best way I can put it - I was addicted to myself. I was so focused on myself, it was impossible to look at anything else. You know when you wake up and your face is up against the wall and you think to yourself, "There is little grooves. It's all one color. What the heck is that?" And then you realize you were just looking at a wall. But it was really difficult to identify that the wall was a wall because you were too close.

Well, the day I became a Christian was the day I felt like I was staring at a giant statue of myself but I didn't realize it was a statue of me because I was so close to my cheek - so self-absorbed. Then God swooped me away from it in His mighty hand and I realized it was a dumb idol I had erected of myself. And then I was able to see around the statue. Next, I realized how small the statue was. Then, I realized how giant the universe was. At that moment, I realized that the world didn't revolve around me. I was simply a human, and I was so small. Life was NOT about me. Life was about the One who created me. Life was about Jesus Christ. I was liberated from my self-addiction and given eyes to see the glory and wonder of God all around me. This visual gift has been applied to my life everyday since and there is no way to describe it. The glory of God must be experienced firsthand. It is indescribable. I have been saved from myself through the grace of a God who loves me so vigorously the only response is awe and thankfulness.

So how does this tie in to your question? Everyday, I see dozens of people on campus. Close friends. Strangers. People I see daily. People I see weekly. People I will never see again. People from Saudi Arabia. People from Louisiana. Sad people. People caked with a pound of makeup to try and make up for what they believe they are not. People who stare at the floor when they walk. People who listen to their iPods and miss everything going on around them. People who have already retreated into their minds before they step out their apartment.

People who are blind because they are too close to the cheek of the statue they have erected of themselves. I can see who those people are because I can see me in them. And this breaks my heart daily. I can't stand to see them in the darkness that once captivated me. It viscerally pains me to know they don't know their Creator that so deeply loves them - the Creator who humbled Himself into human form, was scorn, and died to secure a place with Him for eternity.