Cracked Bells, Christlike Love, and the Good Life

Because life life and the good life especially isn't built on the absence of relational cracks. It's built on the presence of Christ like character despite them. Yeah. Wait. The good life is not finding the people who treat you right. The good life is treating people right when they've treated you wrong. [00:49:46] (31 seconds)  #GoodLifeIsCharacter

It means I have to bless the one that tried to break me. And y'all, he then goes into this quotation of Psalm 34 because he says the person who wants to love life and to see good days has to regulate their tongue and their behavior when they are offended because the good life comes when I learn how to maintain my character in the midst of your offensive need. [01:08:33] (30 seconds)  #BlessTheOneWhoBrokeYou

Everywhere there are people, there will be some relational tension and friction, and offense is inevitable. He's not speaking hypothetically. Evil is going to be done. Insults will be spoken. Relationships will fracture. The question is not whether or not you will be offended. The question is who are you going to be once you have been offended? [01:04:03] (27 seconds)  #OffenseIsInevitable

You mean I gotta bless the person that broke me? I gotta help the person that hurt me. Yeah. I gotta speak life to the person that tried to kill me. Peter, this this this this this ain't fair. And I wanna suggest I wanna suggest that you're right. It ain't fair, but it is faith. [01:07:29] (33 seconds)  #FaithWhenUnfair

Church ought to be a place where I can come and even when I can't articulate what I'm trying to say with all the right words, somebody ought to be able to feel me. I don't know all the doctrine and all the I don't have all the i's dotted and the t's crossed. I don't know all the hymns in the hymn book, and I don't know where Genesis is and Revelation. You'd say turn to Revelation. I go to the beginning of my bible. You say go to Genesis. I go to the end. I may not have it all together, but I need a place where I can emote and I can express and I can talk without judgment, without criticism, without somebody telling me I'm crazy, and I've lost my I need somebody to feel me. [00:57:03] (45 seconds)  #ChurchShouldFeelSafe

That those fractures didn't silence the bell. They they simply changed the tone of the bell. When the bell ringer would pull the rope to ring the bell, a cracked bell made a deeper sound. It was less polished. It was less pure, but it was the honest effort of the bell to still do its job. You could hear the wound in the voice of the bell. [00:45:56] (33 seconds)  #WoundedBellStillRings

But bells are like people. Bells are like bodies. Bells get worn out. After years and years of ringing, the metal would wear down and summer heat would stretch the metal. The cold winter would tighten the metal. Storms would shake the bell and the bell tower and slowly, quietly, fractures would begin to take place. [00:45:26] (31 seconds)  #BellsWearAndTear