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This is something i wrote yesterday when i found out i was speaking at my old high schools lunchtime christian group, i do it every week, but this is the first time ive spoken. And im going to be alone. It starts in an hour.
I have a girlfriend who im very close to and she has a lot of issues in her life, shes in a lot of pain at the moment. A bit over a week ago she was planning to commit suicide. She put 21 staples in her arm on saturday night and on sunday she wrote a suicide note to me and her family. Her plans to kill herself where found out and she got put in the pyschiatric ward on sunday night. This sunday i travelled down to her house which took 11 hours on the train. I went into the ward to see her, she got released on monday afternoon so we got to spend some time together. On the train ride back i was thinking about everything that had happened and i told God that i wished there was some way for me to take all her problems, all the pain, all the issues in her life that where stopping her from being happy, and made her hurt herself, i asked God if it was possible for me to take all those burdens from her and carry them for her, because shes one of my best friends and i love her a lot, so i wanted to do that for her. Even though i knew id suffer for it, i was willing to go through it for her. God replied with a simple "No he wouldnt let me do that." i asked him why not? why couldnt i take this burden from her. God told me to think about it. So i sat and i thought about it for a minute, and i realised that God had already sent someone to carry her burdens for her. I thought a bit more on this and God said to me "You know you have quite a few burdens of your own that your still carrying. He could take those for you." I knew exactly what burdens God was talking about. I havent had the best life so far, my biological father left when i was 2, my stepfather was a drug addict and child molester, people had told me things in my life that made me think i was nothing, and i'd had addictions which meant i did things to myself that i believed God wouldnt forgive me for. Until tuesday night i still carried this all around with me. But God didnt want me to carry this stuff around with me anymore and he showed me what he'd done for me. I want everyone to close your eyes, keep them shut until i tell you to open them and imagine the scene im going to describe to you. This is what God showed me and i want to share it with you. Its a hot dusty and dry day. Your standing in the middle of a large crowd, centred around a single bloodied man. The man is carrying a cross and he keeps falling from the weight of it. You are carrying your own weight. a large sack full of rocks, each rock represents something bad thats happened top you in your life. Someone called you a name, thats one rock. you hurt someone badly, thats another rock. your parents divorced, thats another rock, people you thought loved you have left you, thats another rock. Your sack is full of rocks. You cant hold yourself and your sack up. You fall to the ground, next to the bloodied man, he looks into your eyes and for a moment theres nothing in the world except you and him, you cant look away. the love you feel coming from this man blows you away. But then you remember your sack and everything in it. You look away from the man back to the sack. You know you dont deserve to me in his prescense. He brings your attention back to him when he speaks. In a raspy voice he says "Give me your sack, let me carry it." you think that theres no way you can give him your sack to him, he's already carrying something so strong. But he continues to look at you and again he speaks "You cant carry that all by yourself, give it to me and we can walk together." Something in you is moved and you place your sack on his cross, together you and the man stand, and you walk with him as he carries the cross and your burden up the hill. This is the first time in your life you have ever been able to stand strong and walk free.
You arrive at the top of the hill with your new friend, and watch as he is crucifided, along with your sack. Nails go into his hands and feet. As the afternoon approaches he dies and your sack disappears.
This story isnt fiction, this is what Jesus has done for us. We are all carrying around our own sacks, filled with things we think we'll never be free from. God has given us a way to be free, hes sent someone to carry all our problems for us. And all he we have to do is let him. Keep your eyes closed and see it again. Jesus kneeling before you asking "Can i take that sack from you, let me carry your problems, let me carry you, let me know you."
I have a girlfriend who im very close to and she has a lot of issues in her life, shes in a lot of pain at the moment. A bit over a week ago she was planning to commit suicide. She put 21 staples in her arm on saturday night and on sunday she wrote a suicide note to me and her family. Her plans to kill herself where found out and she got put in the pyschiatric ward on sunday night. This sunday i travelled down to her house which took 11 hours on the train. I went into the ward to see her, she got released on monday afternoon so we got to spend some time together. On the train ride back i was thinking about everything that had happened and i told God that i wished there was some way for me to take all her problems, all the pain, all the issues in her life that where stopping her from being happy, and made her hurt herself, i asked God if it was possible for me to take all those burdens from her and carry them for her, because shes one of my best friends and i love her a lot, so i wanted to do that for her. Even though i knew id suffer for it, i was willing to go through it for her. God replied with a simple "No he wouldnt let me do that." i asked him why not? why couldnt i take this burden from her. God told me to think about it. So i sat and i thought about it for a minute, and i realised that God had already sent someone to carry her burdens for her. I thought a bit more on this and God said to me "You know you have quite a few burdens of your own that your still carrying. He could take those for you." I knew exactly what burdens God was talking about. I havent had the best life so far, my biological father left when i was 2, my stepfather was a drug addict and child molester, people had told me things in my life that made me think i was nothing, and i'd had addictions which meant i did things to myself that i believed God wouldnt forgive me for. Until tuesday night i still carried this all around with me. But God didnt want me to carry this stuff around with me anymore and he showed me what he'd done for me. I want everyone to close your eyes, keep them shut until i tell you to open them and imagine the scene im going to describe to you. This is what God showed me and i want to share it with you. Its a hot dusty and dry day. Your standing in the middle of a large crowd, centred around a single bloodied man. The man is carrying a cross and he keeps falling from the weight of it. You are carrying your own weight. a large sack full of rocks, each rock represents something bad thats happened top you in your life. Someone called you a name, thats one rock. you hurt someone badly, thats another rock. your parents divorced, thats another rock, people you thought loved you have left you, thats another rock. Your sack is full of rocks. You cant hold yourself and your sack up. You fall to the ground, next to the bloodied man, he looks into your eyes and for a moment theres nothing in the world except you and him, you cant look away. the love you feel coming from this man blows you away. But then you remember your sack and everything in it. You look away from the man back to the sack. You know you dont deserve to me in his prescense. He brings your attention back to him when he speaks. In a raspy voice he says "Give me your sack, let me carry it." you think that theres no way you can give him your sack to him, he's already carrying something so strong. But he continues to look at you and again he speaks "You cant carry that all by yourself, give it to me and we can walk together." Something in you is moved and you place your sack on his cross, together you and the man stand, and you walk with him as he carries the cross and your burden up the hill. This is the first time in your life you have ever been able to stand strong and walk free.
You arrive at the top of the hill with your new friend, and watch as he is crucifided, along with your sack. Nails go into his hands and feet. As the afternoon approaches he dies and your sack disappears.
This story isnt fiction, this is what Jesus has done for us. We are all carrying around our own sacks, filled with things we think we'll never be free from. God has given us a way to be free, hes sent someone to carry all our problems for us. And all he we have to do is let him. Keep your eyes closed and see it again. Jesus kneeling before you asking "Can i take that sack from you, let me carry your problems, let me carry you, let me know you."
