In 8th grade, my friends and I had this weird obsession with mosh-pits.  If you are unfamiliar with what that is, it’s when you go to a rock concert and people start zealously banging into each other from the aggression of the music.  They were tons of fun as a young guy, but could get pretty violent.  My friends and I would always come back battered and bruised from a night of heavy “slam dancing.”  My most memorable one was when we went and saw some no-name-band called “Linkin Park,” at this dive bar in Corpus Christi TX.  Two weeks later, they were all over MTV.

It got to the point where we became so obsessed with mosh pits, that anytime we were in a crowd, we would just all start slamming into each other.  There is no doubt we were the most irritating kids in the school.  One time in particular, my buddies and I were in the guys bathroom at our middle school, and started one (I know, totally ridiculous, but I was 14).

In a flash, I slammed into my buddy and his watch caught my finger and sliced it open.  Blood poured down onto the blue tile floor as I gripped my lacerated hand, in an attempt to stop the bleeding.  My friends all laughed, as I quickly ran towards the nurses office.

17 years later, as I look down at my right ring finger, I can still see the scar from that moment, and remember the story behind it, because…

Scars always tell a story.

When Jesus was resurrected, He went around and appeared to many of his disciples.  One however, was not there at His appearing.  His name was Thomas, or as he is referred to in the Bible, “doubting Thomas.”  The reason he is called “doubting Thomas,” was because when the other disciples told him they saw Jesus, he said “unless I see the holes in his hands and in his side, I won’t believe.”

A few days later, Jesus appears to Thomas and basically says “check out my scars.”  In that moment, Thomas believed.  But here is the thing, Thomas gets a bad wrap.  I think it’s pretty unfair actually.  While he was wrong to not trust what Jesus said about His re-appearing, he was RIGHT in that he brought out his doubts to his friends, and was REAL with his unbelief.  I appreciate that.

It doesn’t take very long to learn that we are going to have some heart break in our life.  EVERYONE has it.  However, we learn to fake our feelings because we don’t want people to see the tender and vulnerable places in our lives where we have been hurt.

Because Thomas saw the scars of Jesus, which told a story of hope, he believed. 

And just like Thomas, there are people in your life who need to see the proof of the pain that you went through, if they are ever going to live in a place of hope for their own struggles.

Be generous when it comes to showing people your “scars.”  You could be the catalyst for someones healing, and help them come to a place of hope.  If anything, at least you might hear a great story.  Probably not as great as hearing about a 14 year old cutting his finger in a bathroom mosh pit, but we can always dream.

Here’s to “loving the process,”

Gresh