I was in our kitchen one day, changing the fluorescent tubes in the light fixture. As usual, I was amazed at how I could touch the old light with my bare hands and gently twist it to remove it from the fixture. I left the light switch on…my hands were far from any live electricity...and the glass of the tube served to insulate me from any danger.
Like you, I had changed fluorescent tubes dozens of times over the years. We even kept a small supply of them so we were ready when we needed to replace them. Easy peasy, right? Yep, easy peasy…until I let go of my grip on the tube with one hand and failed to control the effect of gravity as I held it in my other hand. The first result was a “slight” bump on the corner of a kitchen countertop. The second result was an explosion of tiny shards of glass when the tube escaped my other hand and fell to the floor.
What do you do when needles of glass are covering your kitchen floor, along with some in your dining room and in your family room? I have since discovered that perhaps I should have been concerned about the mercury that escaped. For me, though, the first step would be, “Put your shoes on!” Quite honestly, I don’t remember if I had my shoes on that day. However, the idea of walking barefoot over that glass minefield makes sleeping on a bed nails rather comfy by comparison.
At Stone Ridge Church, our vision is quite simple: “A church of broken people for broken people.” Reaching those who have been blasted and bumped and banged up by life is a full “shoes on” experience. Shards of pain can show up in the most unexpected places and the most inopportune times. It’s worth it, though, because Jesus has a way of doing more than vacuuming up the broken shards of our lives. He takes those broken pieces and turns them into works of art that become His tools to touch and change others who are broken.
That’s our topic this weekend at Stone Ridge. Hope you can join us!
