[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: BETTER

Fri Jun 18 12:18:51 UTC 2021

From: Larry Perry [mailto:larryperry at performancepress.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Larry Perry
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2021 8:11 AM
To: mmoore11 at kent.edu
Subject: EXT: BETTER

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Letter from Larry

Friday

June 18, 2021

Good Morning Everyone:

BETTER

One day, I did something very unusual. I sat in a cafeteria while 5th 

and 6th grade students were eating lunch and cried. I didn't care who

saw. I was upset about something, but it took more than that to make

me cry. In fact, I did exactly what I always advise other people not to

do. I thought about one problem and let it remind me of a lot of other

problems, things in the past. I sat there and thought about every person

I'd ever known who went through some traumatic thing that I thought

there was some possibility I could have prevented if only I had done

something a little differently.

There was dropping out of school, becoming drug addicts, getting 

evicted from houses, shooting up, getting pregnant before finishing

high school, getting diseases, quitting church, getting involved in 

prostitution, suffering physical abuse, and going to prison for selling

crack. All these things have happened to people I've known, people 

I had a chance to influence.

As if that wasn't enough, I didn't stop there. Then, I thought about 

people I don't even know. Starving kids in foreign countries, people

who get murdered, abused, raped. People whose loved ones die. 

Persecuted Christians. Little kids who get cancer. All the ugly things 

that happen to people in the world. And so yeah, I was crying, and I 

didn't care who saw. I was crying for everything and everybody, even 

the kids in that cafeteria, knowing some of their stories were sad or 

would be. Yeah, this world's really messed up. So I asked, "God... 

can't You...do better than this?"

His answer was this. First, He reminded me that all those people

I know, His love for them is infinitely greater than mine could ever

be, so His heart is infinitely more broken than mine for them... Then,

He reminded me that all those people I don't even know, His love

for them is that great as well. (How can He handle so much 

heartbreak...?) 

Next, He gave us all a wonderful world to live in. Everything in this 

world that's wonderful, every happy memory we've ever had...it's all 

from Him. Not only that, but He gave us everything we need to know

to keep our lives happy and everything we need to know so that after

this life, we can live a perfect life with Him forever.

It's all right here (in the Bible). If only we'd read it, if only we'd listen...

If we ever doubted that anything He told us to do or anything He 

told us to NOT do was in our best interest, if we ever thought that

maybe He just wanted to waste our time or ruin our fun, He proved 

He loved us too much to ever do that to us. HE DIED FOR US. He

is smarter than all of us put together. He has more love for us than 

all of us put together. Everything He tells us to do is for our benefit,

our peace, our joy, our fulfillment. Everything He tells us not to do

will only bring us sorrow and pain. Yet, so many ignore His loving 

commands, choosing instead to follow our own ideas, the world's

ideas about what will make us happy... So many people doing that,

each of us doing that sometimes, that's what makes this world messed

up. So God's question back to me, back to everyone: "Can't you...do 

better than this?"

"But I'm only one person. What can I do?"

That's the question that we each need to ask ourselves.

Here's what I can came up with. In a world of great darkness, I can be

a small light when I reflect His light. Jesus said, I am the Light. When

I feel discouraged, I can push forward, relying on Him, so that 

somehow, in my own unique way, I can bring God's love to a world

that so desperately needs it.

"To all the ones I've wanted to save from sorrow but couldn't: I'm thinking

of you tonight. I still love you, and I'm sorry. By trying to help, I have

taken your burdens into my heart, and now a portion of them weighs 

on my shoulders as well as your own, but I don't regret trying..."

Think About it!

Much love,

Larry 

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