Like diamond rings and football teams have torn this boy apart. With those who don’t know him. With those who know him, but haven’t yet learned that he isn’t perfect, and he’s just trying to live up to that ideal. For those people who have never seen him smile. For those who’ve never seen that twinkle in his eye, and they’ve never been able to recognize him for that special gift that he is, in his own inimitable way. So what do you do? How do you comfort him? Do you tell him that it’s okay? You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be perfect to be a blessing, because you are. To be perfect is a curse. To be imperfect is a blessing, but it isn’t always an easy one. I love the scripture, Philippians 1:27 that states, “And the Lord is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” Grace, that is what it’s all about, having the Lord’s help in all things. The God of perfection can turn a brokenhearted boy into a man who can make things right, like it says in Psalms 103:5, “He sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a dry land.” The God of grace can make things right and can comfort us. Even if it means breaking us. And don’t think that it will ever end because He does promise to make us His. “My Father,” as one of the boys at church said this morning, “can you make my leg not hurt anymore? That’s all I ask. So help me Jesus.” And he did. But the truth is, if you could see his leg that is no longer broken, if you could see him in that moment, if he’d just be allowed to stop for a moment, you’d see the tears. Even in the moment, he was still hurt. For in our heart we know that there is always that hurt that hasn’t healed. That one more thing we still need to fix. I know I’m saying it’s okay. I’m here to tell you that God can make us perfect. But there is only one way. Let me say it like this. God can make all of us perfect, so perfect that we can leave this life here with the promise that we will be with Him. But first He has to separate us from the world, because when we are in the world it is so hard to turn away from it. It is so hard to break ourselves from the flesh. I know what it’s like to be a broken boy. You see there is still someone out there in your life, who can hurt you in the worst way. And we want to avoid that pain. No matter how old we get, there will always be that fear that someone is going to hurt us. I won’t even try to sugar coat it. The truth is that we will always be a broken boy. Every last one of us. And it’s okay. And God can make us perfect in His time, but only if we have the faith to trust in Him. And before we part, I want to tell you that I love you and care for you. I care more than you know, and it breaks my heart to see a man so broken, not able to put one foot in front of the other, but then you’re fine. You just want to run away, because you can’t let yourself be broken anymore. The most perfect one of all. And now you’re letting your fear get in the way. I want to tell you that you’re strong. And I believe that you can feel the strength of your faith in God. You can’t get anywhere if you don’t have your faith. So keep your faith. Keep going. You have so much more to do. And you’ll get there. In fact, if you put one foot in front of the other, God will guide you, because that’s what He does. He is God. He has the final say. So we can do this. And this is why we’re here, because we all want the same thing. We want to live, for Christ’s sake. We want to live for Him, and all we have to do is stay in Him. And the God who created us has the power to perfect us in His time. And when we become perfect, we will see so much more of Him. In the meantime, we keep on keeping on. And we just keep giving Him our heart and our hopes. Because when we do that, everything starts to change. Our hearts are still broken. But when we realize that God gave up everything for us, well, it changes everything. Because we can fix anything, as long as He’s there with us. That’s what He’s made us to do. That’s what He does. It’s a lot like a doctor doing surgery. No matter what the surgery is, if you can fix the problem, and God can fix all our problems. When you’re at your lowest point, God is right there with you. Let Him work on you. And as the rest of the song says “Even When I can’t stand I’ll still take that walk with you,” because I believe that He can heal me of all my hurt. Because it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it hurts. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense. He does what’s best for me and me alone. I read a quote once, “The miracle of God, our healing is one of the most beautiful mysteries of the human heart.” And I love that. He is our healing, and He can bring us back to life. But you have to come back to God. Because He is the only one who can save us. That’s the only one who can make us perfect. We may be broken, but we aren’t broken, and we won’t stay broken for long, if we really know Him. Let us fix each other. Let us fix ourselves. Let’s put God first, because He is the only one who can save us. He can make us perfect. This week, don’t be afraid to let Him in, because He is good and He can do anything He wants to. Let’s just hold on and give our heart to him and we’ll be there. Just let Him work through us, the perfect plan, the most perfect plan of all. And you’ll come out better for it. The Lord is my shepherd. He leadeth me in a green pasture. He leadeth me to a still stream. All the days of my life. The Lord’s mercy and loving kindness toward each one of us is great, because He has compassion on all the living things of the earth and you shall return to Him. (Psalm 147:1, 14 KJV) In his parable, Jesus described how the prodigal son returned home (Luke 15:11-32). Immediately, he is greeted warmly by the father who ran to meet him and gave him a big hug. He was happy that his son had returned, because the son had missed so many family gatherings and it hurt to see the father looking so sad. But that is not the only reason the son was welcomed. The son repented and went to the father and recognized who he was. He knew he was forgiven, and he was still a son to him. He knew that his father loved him. He went home a sinner and became his son again. This is an amazing part of the story. We can be sinners, but still be sons. We can sin, and we can still be his sons. To be his son is to love him. We are not talking about going on bended knee, or giving money. We are talking about loving someone who we may not like very much, someone that we may not even like very much right now, because we are broken too. It takes time to get to know another human being, and that is not a natural thing for us humans. We run from the unknown, we just want to get things done, so that we don’t have to see what lies beneath the surface of the iceberg that has yet to be seen