Sticks and Stones

Remember that playground wisdom that claimed “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”? Yeah, that’s a load of garbage!

Words are powerful. Words can uplift, but they can also destroy. We are emotional beings, so to claim that words won’t hurt us is just nonsense.

As a writer and podcaster it’s always part of my hope that I will go “viral”. It finally happened this past week, but not in the way that I had hoped. My dream was that I would say something so profound or inspiring that people would just keep on sharing it around the country. I thought I might be sooo encouraging with all of the “rising up” that people wouldn’t be able to help themselves and would just tell the world what they had heard.

Nope.

My past is out there for all to see. I don’t broadcast it everyday, but neither do I tried to keep it a secret. Last week a few folks decided that it would be best for all if they put me on blast on social media. Thankfully, I didn’t see any of it, but I am told that it was particularly ugly and hateful.

Those words, even though I didn’t see or hear them, hurt. They hurt a lot.

So now I am faced with soul wrenching emotional pain and I’m the “Rise Up” guy. How do I put on that happy face and smile. The simple answer is that I decided to be honest in my emotions. It was our first time in church for weeks. Thankfully we had masks, so I didn’t have to smile. But I couldn’t stop the tears. I couldn’t help but feel like I stood out like a sore thumb. I couldn’t combat the feeling that the words from the pulpit seemed to apply to everyone except me. I was crushed. I hadn’t felt this awful in years.

But the good thing about being down is that it gives a great avenue for me to…

–Rise Up (eventually)!!