So I started speaking about it on Facebook, but this is the better medium to get out all I wanted to say. Anyway, today has been very dramatic for me, although it is more internal than external, specifically because nothing happened to me directly. Still, my heart is heavy.

As you may have heard, the new Miss America is Indian. Yesterday I saw her and I thought she was pretty and kept it moving on to the next story. Then today, I hear that her ethnicity is some big controversy and people are calling her Arab. First of all she she is Indian (whether that is India-American or Native American I don’t know), which means she is NOT Arab, but even if she is, so what!. It’s disheartening to see the hatred people have in their hearts even in this day and age just because of skin-color. I’ll be honest and say that I am very sensitive, so to be her or any celebrity at that I can understand why so many succumb to drugs, alcohol, and move from one bed to the next so quickly. People are mean and ruthless and whoever said “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words do not hurt me,” was disillusioned. Words penetrate deeper and hang around longer than any punch or bullet. All in all, the heart of the matter is the heart of the matter, and some people are so lost in their own bitterness, hate, and ignorance it’s discouraging.

Then on top of that, very rarely do I watch the news, if for no other reason, it’s 97% negative and national or local, given the area I live in, and it’s easy to get depressed just hearing all the conspiracies, violence, wars, death, broken children, and so forth. This world is so dark, just considering all that is going on in Syria and then the Navy Base, things are chaotic and and just crazy, so much in so it’s hard to live and feel safe.

Also, I have already done a study on world religions, but today I was in a class of the same thing. The Bible talks about the wide and windy road that many travel, but there are few on the straight and narrow. Today that truth was again magnified, in that so many are lost and blinded. The enemy, the Father of Lies as Jesus called him, is on the prowl as he has been since the garden. He is pouring his lies into whoever chooses to listen. As an Angel of Light as Paul calls him, some of his lies sound so close to truth, but as children of God we have to be equipped enough to know his lie and know the truth of God’s Word, but most importantly be able to share it with others.

More heartbreaking than those, are all the stories I’ve read about, seen, and heard about children and youth, between abuse, abortion, suicide, teen pregnancy, lack of educational resources, and the filth in a lot of mainstream media, television and music. One could easily say my generation and the one behind me is dying emotionally, mentally, and physically. These young lives are conditioned to feel they aren’t loveable, they aren’t worth anything, they don’t matter, they have no purpose in life, and they look for truth, belonging, and love in all the wrong places. Their dreams are laughed at and trampled upon and aren’t given a chance to succeed or the hope of a bright and meaningful future.

This world is dark and this world is ugly, which only makes Jesus breathtakingly beautiful. Purpose, love, acceptance, and identity come from Christ alone. As one of my favorite songs says “Jesus is the answer for the world today,” and that’s what purpose is all about. It’s about a willing heart of a person making him or herself available to use the gifts,talents, dreams, and visions the Lord has given specifically to you to share and promote the light and beauty of Jesus Christ. So if you are reading this, know that the world so eagerly needs you and that your purpose is bigger than life. If you allow Him, God will take the very least you may have and do something remarkably wonderful if you say yes. The harvest, just from what I said prior, is plenty, your purpose is to be a laborer in whatever form God wills to gather the harvest for His kingdom. Wake up!! There is no time to waste on frivolous things and matters that won’t matter one year from now. We can’t live selfishly because this world is perishing right under our noses and for those of us that know the love of Jesus, it is sin for us to do nothing about it! The world is eagerly waiting for the sons and daughters of God to stand up and rise up (Romans 8:19). We have the remedy to the world’s sickness, so go give it away.

So I encourage you, live on purpose. Speak on purpose. Learn on purpose. Share on purpose. Give on purpose. Love on purpose. Do on purpose. Be on purpose. There is no better time than now.

I pray God burden’s your heart for the condition of the world and your respective communities.