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| My nicest trophy lay on the floor. Broken. Layers of smooth marble mixed with wood once held firmly together with a heavy colored metaled core. But now the eagles were broken off, the king fallen. The plate describing the accomplishment became just another broken piece. |
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| My son knew it was a special trophy. It was prized! I knew he also liked it so I let him play with it. I just didn't think that one day it would come up to my study in broken pieces. He asked one question, "Can you fix it?" His somber eyes waited for an answer as other children gathered around. "No, I can't fix it." I was surprised saying that but after six steady examinations, I really didn't think I could fix the near 30 year-old trophy. |
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| This brought to my mind how special each one of us are. We are made in the image of God. We are trophies of God's glory! But we are careless, ignorant, deceived, betrayed, and just plain evil. It doesn't take long for the most prized to become the most shameful. Just like the statues in the museums, with missing arms and heads, so are our lives. Broken. Unsightly. We wonder if it is worth holding on to anymore. |
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When sexual purity is stolen, it is just like the initial shattering of the trophy on the ground. We immediately begin to live in a lie that we do not feel so bad and that it really doesn't matter. "After all, everyone does it. But our trophy lay broken, our lives are stained, our relationships ruined and our souls darkened. It did matter. Can anyone really put our lives back together? Can the pains and scars that seep so deep into our souls ever be healed? Hope seems to dribble out with the slightest defeat. Many of us have given up on ourselves. And rightly so. We can't repair what has been broken. We think our biggest problem is our only problem. It is not. But thankfully God specializes in repairing broken lives. For through our brokenness, others are more able to see God's great glory. God restores the worst of us so that we can become His prized trophies. He sets us up on earth proclaiming to her onlookers of God's glorious compassion, care and power. Sexual purity is often despised in today's world, but it is important to hold onto both in and out of marriage, in our bodies as well as in our minds. This series of web pages go step by step through the process on how God restores the trophy. One must remember that there will necessarily be some chips and cracks in the restored trophy. But truly the restored trophy symbolizes a triumph much greater than the first. |
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The Big Race
