Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

putting on the new

When the world breaks

The world is broken.

I hear this all the time. On Facebook. In news articles. From Christians and non-Christians alike.

And it’s not hard to believe when we hear about places like Brussels and Paris, targeted in terrorist attacks, and when we learn about all the other places we don’t hear about who also suffer attacks. It’s not hard to believe when we see the faces of refugees fleeing violent situations and hear the rhetoric about how they are not welcome here. It’s not hard to believe when politicians are shouting at each other. When no choice seems like a good choice and all we want to do is shout, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly!”

It’s easy to point a finger at all the brokenness in the world. To list it like evidence in a trial. Exhibit A. Exhibit B. Here’s proof.

The world is broken. Few people would argue about that.

My question is: what can we do about it?

You can read the rest of this post at Putting on the New, where I write on the 12th of each month.

What difference does it make?

My chance to vote for a candidate for president is still weeks away. (Wait, don’t go! I promise this isn’t a post just about politics.) I watch the news reports of the outcomes in states that seem to matter more than mine, and though I’m still not 100 percent certain about who I am voting for, I’ve started to wonder how I should vote.

Should I cast my vote for the person I think is best, even if it looks like they have no shot at winning the nomination? Or should I pick a person who has a better chance of beating the person I definitely don’t want as president?

Ultimately, I wonder, does my vote even matter? Will it be too late by the time I cast it?

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This is, unfortunately, how I look at my life, too. I want my life to matter. I want my actions to make a difference. I want to know I changed something or someone because I lived. I don’t ask for much, do I?

Read the rest of this post at Putting on the New, where I post on the 12th of each month.