Reflections on a Fall Morning

  Sitting here this morning listening to a cappella congregational singing, in particular the Kleinwood church of Christ Annual Singing. Several thoughts run through my mind as I focus on the words to the different songs, and sing along (as best I can without the words in front of me).
I love the recent new version of "Just As I Am" called "Just As I Am I Come Broken."

I come broken to be mended
I come wounded to be healed
I come desperate to be rescued
I come empty to be filled
I come guilty to be pardoned
By the blood of Christ the Lamb
And I'm welcomed with open arms
Praise God, just as I am

  The words hit me particularly hard today as my body is most definitely broken due to my severe back problems on top of all the other ailments age has inflicted upon me. I marvel that someone as physically and spiritually damaged as I am could have hope... could have a God who loves me in spite of myself, in spite of my evil past.
  For the past few weeks I've been helping my brother out by driving his crews around to job sites. I have been particularly perplexed by the language and attitude of one young man whose vocabulary principally consists of vulgarities. Daily I am trodden under by his constant barrage of hideous language and his equally vulgar attitude towards women. At the end of the day I feel as though his every crass word has stuck to me like velcro and I need to shower to try and cleanse myself from his tawdry language. But what I am more concerned with is how to reach his soul (and the rest of the crew as well) and make him see he can be so much better as a person if he were to clean up his language.
  I pray for him and all the crew. I pray and ask God to help me to be an instrument of change to them. I know they can change... I did. During the decade during which I had left the church I spoke horrible words, words that would tarnish the soul. I did unspeakable things that will forever leave a mark on my heart. I was so severely damaged, so broken... wounded... empty... guilty - all those adjectives that verse mentions. But I did one thing, one thing that turned my life around and back on the track it was supposed to be on - I repented. God mended me, healed me, rescued me, filled me with his love and spirit and he pardoned me. ME! I am so ashamed of the man I had become yet God took control and put me on the course I am on today. If God can do that with someone like me I know he can do it with someone like the young man on that job crew, that young man I will continue to pray for, that whole crew I will continue to pray for.