there is a place...

there is a place where a little boy is chained under the front porch by his parents like a dog.  this isn't possible is it?


there is a place where a child is made to wear a bell in case she tries to sneak food to feed her undernourished body.  why did it take so long to get her help?


there is a place where a teenage daughter dies while driving drunk with "i'm an alcoholic" written on her hand.  what did her parents think as they laid eyes on her in the hospital room?


there is a place where a husband leads a heart-wrenching double life leaving his wife behind after committing suicide...he was supposed to be a "christian."

there is a place where preachers abuse their own children.  where they cheat on their wives, steal money from the church.   and i ask where is the integrity and character of these "men of God" ?


there is a place where kids are afraid to use the bathroom at their school due to gangs and bullies.

there is a place where drug addiction is sneaking into all ages and classes of people.


there is a place where almost every child in the school lives in a fatherless home.  where are the fathers?


there is a place where a man lays dead in his home for three days only to be found by a neighbor.

there is a place where a robber steals a jewelry box full of a little girl's possessions.


there is a place where veterans have never once been thanked for risking their very lives for protecting our freedom.


there is a place where a man lays on the sidewalk after a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. 


there is a place where "i love you" is never spoken.

there is a place where kids are seen as a hassle or burden, not a blessing.


i wish i was making these scenarios up. i wish it was all a bad dream.  sometimes i wish i didn't know these stories.  sin is so bad.  but then i remember...



there is


hope.  

there is healing, redemption, restoration, love, forgiveness...


peace.

it's there for the taking.  and God is doing amazing things.

look up. lay it all down.  cry.  pray.  get you're heart in it's right place, because let's face it, all of us carry around hurt. and then reach out to help someone else.

it's not too late.