My name is Patrick Ray. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I desire to see small neighborhood churches started all across this beautiful city. My best friend and fiancee's name is Shelby Brooke; I get to marry her on May 31st. Also, I love semi-colons.
It's kind of perfect because I'm still completely confused by semi-colons, so I guess our blogs balance each other out. His writing is consistently humble, grace-filled and poignant, always lodging itself deep in my brain and my heart, getting me to not only think about it, but feel it. I've known him for about a year, and I so appreciate his heart for people and the way he sees them as exactly that: people that matter.
So, I jumped at the opportunity to write a guest post for his blog (as a trade-off, he will be featured speaking in my next vlog episode!) I decided to write on the woman who anoints Jesus' feet with perfume, as I had just recently read the story during my quiet time.
Here's an excerpt, with a link to the full post down below:
---
Jesus turned toward the
woman and said to Simon,
"Do you see this
woman?
I entered your house;
you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and
wiped them with her hair.
You gave me no kiss, but
from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
You did not anoint my
head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Therefore I tell you,
her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much.
But one who is forgiven
little, loves little."
--Luke 7:44-47 (emphasis
added)
On the flip side, one
who is forgiven much, loves much.
The fact that through
our sins and through God's forgiveness we can learn to love better absolutely
blows me away. For to me, we're all just stumbling through Christ's footsteps,
trying our best to hold onto his Love through the cracks in the earth and the
dirt in our skin. We love because he first loved us. And
sometimes we fall, sometimes we fall a lot, which should be reason enough for
Christ to leave us behind to sit in the mire.
But for some crazy
reason that still doesn't make sense to me, he crouches down next to us,
stepping into the muck and looking us in the eyes. We cringe because we expect
him to yell, but he speaks soft, gentle. He speaks Healing.
Your sins, which are many, are forgiven.
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