When love is your battle plan, its ok to have a preemptive strike. Its ok to go on the offensive. Because love doesn't demand its own way. And love doesn't keep a record of rights and wrongs. Love is patient and kind. Killing them with kindness is ok. More than ok. Encouraged. Pile fiery coals on their heads--but understand that GOD is the consuming fire. LOVE is the consuming fire. You're not trying to harm anybody or burn anybody to the ground. Your trying to melt people's hearts. Show them a more excellent way. Break that cycle of bitterness, and hurt, and shame. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. What comes out is what you believe is inside. What you believe dictates what actions you take. If you are so full of love that there's no room left for anything else, then that's what is going to come out first, last, and always. You won't have to wait until someone hurts you to "take the high road." You'll already (and always) BE on the high road. And if you mess up, if you give back to someone what they give you--the old "eye for an eye" adage--there's a voice behind you telling you "This is the way. Walk in it." And notice that the voice doesn't say, "walk it out." Because we are not supposed to do this in our own power. Jesus equipped and empowered us to do all of the things He did, and greater things than that. But He equipped and empowered us to live His life by GIVING us His life. By living His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us. Its not us trying to follow in Jesus' foot steps. Its Jesus making His own foot steps in our feet. Its God working in mysterious ways because He works through people. And people are messy. People rarely do what THEY want to do. Much less what YOU want them to do. People do things because they feel guilty. Or because they feel obligated. Or for money. Any number of reasons. And that's ok. Because you can't control anybody else. You can't make anybody do anything. But what you can do is launch a preemptive strike. What you can do is get your retaliation in first. Don't wait for someone to poke you in the eye. Hit them in the heart, right between the eyes, with a love so strong it lights them up and makes the darkness flee. I think the only time we really want to hold on to something negative is when we think something (even a bad thing) is better than nothing. But when we see a better option--sure, we might think its too good to be true but--we'll at least be interested. And I'm not saying the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side. But I'm saying sometimes it is. You don't have to stay stuck. God allows U-turns. And, in fact, I think He encourages them. I think He's always ready, willing, and able to help us up when we fall down. To the point that He is the One who can (and will) keep us from falling. When we put our trust in Him. When we stop giving back what people give us and start giving people what GOD gave us. The gift of God. Eternal life. A life of living and loving. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. So if you want to truly start living... start loving. Don't wait for life to happen. Launch a preemptive strike!

When we know that love is our foundation, we can stand and not be shaken. Jesus is the One who picks us up when we fall, and can even keep us from falling. But what I'm trying to say in this Rant series is that we don't have to be so passive all the time. And, again, what I'm also not saying is that we should be aggressive. This idea that we have to uncover sin, get sin out of the camp, wage war against sin... I don't know. I'm more of the opinion that Jesus is the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. I'm more of the opinion that a believer CANNOT sin. I think the ONLY fight left to fight in the New Testament is the good fight of faith--laying hold of eternal life. Receiving and releasing the gift that we've already been given. And we do that... this oughta make sense... by having faith in God. We fight the good fight of faith... with faith. By believing that what God says about you is true. Not by trying to be someone you're not, but by knowing who you are. And when you know who you are you can BE who you are. Not by trying, but by resting. Not by might, or by power, but by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth of who we are. The truth of who God is. The truth that WE are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The truth the HE is our heavenly Father. So what I'm trying to say is: Its all about love. Love is our preemptive strike. Love is where it begins and (in so much as there was an ending 2,000 years ago on the cross... the end of the old and the beginning of the New) and ends. Love is our foundation. Love is where we start. And we don't have to wait for anything to happen in order for us to start. We CAN break the cycle when someone gives us what THEY have--hurting people hurt people. When all you have is bitterness, and hurt, and pain, that's all you can give. And we SHOULD break the cycle whenever possible. But we don't have to wait for someone to slap us in order to turn the other cheek. We can show people love, and mercy, and compassion first things first. We can walk in with a smile and with love, mercy, and compassion on our lips. I've always thought having the right word (the Word of God which is LOVE) is better than having the last word. Let me say it like this: Sometimes you can be "right" or you can be kind. Sometimes people aren't ready to be proven wrong. Even if they are wrong. So slamming someone can do a lot more damage--even if they're wrong and you're right. I think Proverbs 15:23 says what I'm trying to say, "A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!" The right Word at the right time can be so powerful. A little encouragement goes a long way. And, again, the point of this whole Rant series, you don't have to wait for anything. You don't have to wait for someone to be struggling before you encourage them. You can pump people up regardless. Because you never know what they AREN'T showing you. Everybody is almost always fighting some kind of battle. So if you give them that Word when they don't even seem to be asking for it, when they don't know that you know that they need it... that kind of Word (LOVE) can literally be life changing. So start with love. Let it overflow out of you all the time. Don't wait for darkness before you say, "Let there be light." Let your light shine among men at all times!

You guys know I don't like starting a Rant with a Bible verse. So I usually ramble a little bit before I just come out firing with it. Now that that's done, Revelation 22:13 says, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." And, really, that's all I'm trying to say in this Rant series. LOVE is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, first and last. I've heard this quite a bit where people say, "Prayer oughta be first choice not last chance." And I agree. Absolutely. But I think we should take it a step further. I think LOVE ought to be first choice and not last chance. I think that's where we should start. That IS our foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:11 says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." There's only one true foundation. Only one Rock that we can stand on and not be shaken. And that foundation isn't one that we need to lay. Its a foundation that has already been laid. It was laid 2,000 years ago on the cross. And, really, it was laid when the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Love is Alpha... because love is the first thing that happened. It didn't just happen IN the beginning. Love WAS the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It wasn't something happened, and then love happened. Even when the heaven and the earth (the mind and the body... you) was dark and void and without form... the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep. There never has been and there never will be a time when God wasn't or won't be with us. He swore that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's been there from the beginning, and He was there at the end (the cross, the end of the Old Covenant). And, in some ways more importantly, He's with us in all the middle part too. Every step of the way. Love got things going. And love keeps things going. This idea of a preemptive strike isn't one of being aggressive, or mean, or judging people, or getting your retaliation in first. This idea of a preemptive strike is about loving people first, last, and always. Its about giving what we've got no matter what we get from people. Its about breaking that cycle. Because an eye for an eye just leaves everyone blind. But when you turn the other cheek... when you show someone a more excellent way... that's when things take a turn. And if we're talking about a more excellent way (which, in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 12:31 and leads directly into the love chapter) then we're talking about things taking a turn for the better. We're talking about being thermostats instead of thermometers. SETTING the temperature instead of just taking the temperature and reacting to it. So when I quote my favorite book series and I say we need to get our retaliation in first, what I'm trying to say is... Start with love. Love IS the first and the last. The first Word, and the last Word. And when that's our attitude coming in, that gives us good footing. That good, strong foundation, right? I think if you go with love you can't go wrong. So why not START with love? Why not let love be our ONLY Word on EVERY subject? Why not launch a preemptive strike of love and let the pieces fall where they may? Maybe instead of destruction we'll see restoration. Make love not war, right? That's all I'm trying to say. If you have to kill 'em, kill 'em with kindness. Give them what they need, instead of what they give you.

Sometimes I think we're too passive about things. But then again, sometimes I think we're too aggressive about things. I think we need to find a balance. We can't always just react to what happens. Because a lot of times when we have that knee jerk reaction, its an OVERreaction. But at the same time, I think if we're always looking for a fight... well, if you're looking for something, you can usually find it. I think--and this is the point of this Rant series--that what we ought to be looking for is any and every opportunity to love people. THAT should be our response. And THAT should be our preemptive strike. That should be the first, and only, bullet in our gun. If I can say it that way. The only tool in our toolbox. And the best thing about love being the only thing that we need, is that it is LITERALLY the only thing that we need. Because, like a diamond, it is multifaceted. Shine a light through it from different angles and you see things differently. Let me try to show you what I'm talking about. "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2). The Tree of Life--one singular tree--bears twelve manner of fruit. One fruit from one tree. The Tree of Life. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Love is the fruit that the Tree of Life produces. And since Jesus is that vine, and we are the branches of that tree, love is the fruit that we bear. That we carry to those that need it. Which is everybody, by the way. But here's my point for today: The 12 different manners of fruit, one for each of the twelve months of the year, says to me that love rules and reigns all year round. Twenty four hours a day, three hundred sixty five days a year. And the leaves of the tree, by the way, are for the HEALING of the NATIONS. Love heals us, and connects us. It (HE) is the glue that binds us together. Because we ARE all in this together. Jesus is altogether lovely, and as the different parts of His many-membered body, we are lovely all together. We need each other. Life is too big to do alone. Its not good for man to be alone. And its not good for man to always be on the defensive, or the offensive. Either extreme is bad. We need to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life--again, love--and we need to share that fruit with those who need it. Again, everybody. And don't neglect the partaking part. Jesus said if you don't eat of His body and drink of His blood you have no part with Him. He is the only thing that can satisfy that need, or that desire, inside us. That God-shaped, love-shaped void can only be filled by God. By love. And the only way we can really "destroy" our enemies is when we realize we don't HAVE enemies. Only friends that don't know they're friends yet. We destroy them by MAKING them our friends. By loving the hell out of them. And we don't have to wait for anything to get that ball rolling. We have what people need--whether they know they need it or not--and because we have it, we can give it to them. We can share it. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. Know (and believe) what you have... and give it away. Receive it, and release it!

There's a book series that I love, and in that book series the protagonist has rules. One of his rules is, "Get your retaliation in first." And in his case, its usually about physical violence towards those that mean him harm. In the case of this Jesus Rant, I'm picking up on the idea of every situation being an opportunity to love somebody. And my point is, you don't have to wait for... well... anything. Because while I think that breaking the cycle--not responding with an eye for an eye and showing someone a more excellent way--is incredibly powerful, I think there's a lot to be said for random acts of kindness. Because love as an idea is pretty good. But charity, love in action, that's a whole different ballgame. That's where the rubber meets the road. That's where you put your money where your mouth is. So, again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with turning the other cheek. If you find yourself in a situation where someone isn't necessarily treating you the way you ought to be treated, you should absolutely love them anyway. That's an opportunity. And those that are the hardest to love are those that need love the most. Because they're hard to love. So they probably aren't getting much of it from anyone. I think we should love the hell out of people like that. But, again, that's a little bit reactionary. And I think we should be more like thermostats than thermometers. We shouldn't just TAKE the temperature, we should SET the temperature. Let me quote my verse for today: "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12 NLT). The Golden Rule, right? The essence of the law and the prophets. The one thing you should know about the Law of Moses if you don't know anything else. Well I want to focus on the first word in the verse. "Do." Charity. Love in action. Walking in faith can only happen when you're, you know, walking. Rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. Not trying to get anything. But simply giving what you've got. Because that's why the Holy Spirit directs you to do; He directs you to love. By leading and guiding you into the truth that you ARE loved. And when you know that you're loved, that's when you CAN love. We love, because God first loved us. We receive it and release it. And watch this: When I say we ought to launch a preemptive strike of love on any and all of the unsuspecting people we come into contact with... its really only possible because that's what Jesus did on the cross. We aren't doing anything He didn't do first. He drew us all into Himself, and planted Himself in us all. He gave us everything we would ever need when He gave us Himself. He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. He didn't just die for us, He lives IN us. The love that we experience when we give it away, is the love that Jesus (God in the flesh, love in a body) first loved US with! So, as always, it flows from within. We can... because He did. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Before we even knew we needed it (LOVE) we had it!

For the last few days I've been saying "God is waiting for an opportunity." An opportunity to be who He is. To love. To mend a broken heart. To show up, by showing out--out of His people. But here's the thing, and this is where I want to end this Rant series, God also GIVES us opportunites. Its like how I've been saying He's waiting for an invitation, when in fact He is standing at the door and knocking, giving US an invitation to invite Him in. And I know my mom says this all the time, so I should be able to quote her properly, but the best I can give you is the gist of what she always says: Problems are really just opportunities for problem solving. So when we're talking about God, of course we're talking about love. "Problems" are really just opportunites to love people. And, as I've said many times before, it is the people who seem the hardest to love that need love the most. Because if they seem hard to love, that means they probably aren't getting any love. Its easy to love people that are your friends, or people that do stuff for you. But while that IS still love... true, sacrificial, agape love is about giving everything you have and everything you are no matter how you are treated. Love is never about getting. Love IS giving. And that's the opportunity: Giving. When someone gives you a hard time, you don't have to give it right back to them. An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. When someone gives you a hard time, you can break the cycle and give them what YOU'VE got instead of just giving them back what they gave you. And what YOU'VE got is love. What YOU'VE got is the ability to turn the other cheek. And when you do that, when you show someone something different--a more excellent way--you can make the most of that opportunity. You can flip the script, if I can say it that way. And instead of hurting people continuing to hurt people... you can step in with some healing. You can step in--just like in the beginning when God said, "Let there be light"--and bring love into the situation. Any situation. Every situation. There's always an opportunity for you to be who you are. Who you REALLY are. So when you receive the love of God, you can release the love of God. In fact and in truth, I believe that we receive the love of God BY releasing the love of God. This, I think, is where faith comes in. Because you can't give what you don't have. So when you walk in love you are walking by faith. Because every time you love someone (charity, love in action) you are proving, to yourself if no one else, that you ARE loved. If you didn't know and believe you were loved, you couldn't love. Again: You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. And you can only give it when you have the opportunity. Now watch this: The grand finale. You are loved... all the time. Even when it doesn't feel like it. Especially when it doesn't feel like it. So you can love... all the time. Even when you don't feel like loving someone. Even when they are giving you something that is not love. You don't have to wait for an opportunity. If you build it, they will come. If you look for it, you'll see the need. Its everywhere. Everybody needs love. And you have it. Which is the perfect opportunity to share it. To give it away. All of the time is the perfect opportunity to love... all of the time!

When we are weak, God (LOVE) is strong. Because when we are weak, we stop trying to do it ourselves. And then God (LOVE) has an opportunity to do what God (LOVE) does. Which, of course, is to love. Love is not just what God does, love is who God is. But love isn't pushy. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. So as long as we try to do it ourselves--for the most part--I think God will let us. But I think its more like a parent who teaches his kid how to ride a bike by taking the training wheels off. Daddy doesn't send you out in the road and say, "You're on your own. Good luck. Hope you don't die." Daddy holds the seat until you can catch your balance. And he usually runs along beside you until you get going. Until you can do it yourself. And even then, daddy keeps an eye on you. He doesn't leave you nor forsake you. And when you do, inevitably, fall down daddy doesn't scold you. He doesn't kick you while you're down. No sir. He reaches down and helps you up. Helps you try again. Because the only true failure is failure to try. And while one of my favorite verses (I know, I know, they're ALL my favorite) is Jude 1:24, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy," I also think, like that father in our example, He will let you make your own mistakes. He's always there to help... but I think He wants to be asked. Let me say it like this, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). And I'm not trying to get to deep into salvation--what it means, who its for, and all that jazz. I'm simply saying, if you need to be saved from any situation, call on the Lord. Don't try to do it all yourself--that usually ends up making things worse instead of better. The harder I try most of the time... I usually end up hurting instead of helping. So don't try to do it all yourself. Give God an invitation. No, better yet, respond to HIS invitation. Because HE stands at the door and knocks. HE has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. All we have to do is open the door. Sit down and eat with Him. Let Him handle what we're stressing about. Cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you! He won't let you down. He won't let you fall. And if you DO fall, He'll pick you up, dust you off, and give YOU the opportunity to try again. And here's the best part: Failure stings, but we learn more from failure than success. When we try again we're a little wiser. A little more experienced. I believe that most of the time--if not all of the time--we have to do something wrong before we do it right. Unless you're that old wrestler Mr. Perfect, nobody can do everything. You have to know when to say when. You have to know that asking for help when you need it is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of wisdom. And the most help we can get--the BEST help we can get--is calling on the name of the Lord. Inviting love into the situation. Or, again, answering love's invitation. There is never a time or a place where love (God) isn't present. Hovering over the face of the deep. Waiting for an opportunity...

In our weakness, God is strong. Because in our weakness God has the opportunity to be strong. He IS always strong. And He IS our strength. That's the truth and the truth never changes. What changes is whether or not we know and believe the truth. Whether or not, in a sense, we let the truth BE true for us. Because its the truth that you know and believe that sets you free and makes you free. Again: The truth is the truth. That can never and will never change. But it can be true that someone puts money in your bank account... and yet, unless you KNOW its in there... it really doesn't do you much good. And, even more powerfully, when we know how that money got there... that's when we can REALLY enjoy it. Because if all of a sudden you check your account, and there's more than you expected, you might not want to spend it. You might think its a mistake. But if you know that it was a gift... that's when you can spend that money guilt free! Its almost like having a gift card. You CAN'T pay bills with it if you want to. You HAVE TO go out and enjoy yourself. That's what this glorious truth is: It is what equips and empowers us to go out and enjoy our lives. Jesus came that we might have LIFE, and that more abundantly. Jesus came that we might have HIS life. That's why He GAVE us His life. His Spirit. His heart. His love. But when He gave it to us He didn't force it on us. When He gave it to us He made it available to us. All throughout the Old Testament God would tell the people of Israel what they should do. But He generally let them do what they wanted to do. Because that's the measure of free will that He has given us. We don't HAVE to do, well, pretty much anything, really. People say all you have to do is pay taxes and die, but there are people out there who don't pay taxes--for the record I'm NOT saying you shouldn't pay your taxes--and there are people in the Bible who never died. My point is: God is always looking for an opportunity to do what He does. Which is love. To be who He is. Which is love. God IS love. But love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Love lets people be who they are. If you think you can do something... I think in large part God will let you try to do it. I think God protects us from a LOT of things that we aren't even aware of, but that's another Rant for another time. For today, what I'm trying to say is: When we STOP trying to do it ourselves, that's when God can really show up. And by "show up" I mean "show out." Because He's in us. He shows up when WE show up. When we stop working (Spiritually), and start resting in Him, that's the opportunity He's looking for. When we bring Him a broken heart, that's when He can MEND that broken heart. I heard a preacher say it like this, "When you work... God will rest. When you rest... God will work." And the key here is that He works IN us. In us, and through us, and as us. So when we rest, that's when we get the most done. Because we're not forcing it. Its flowing. Flowing from within. When we know what's inside (LOVE), it has the opportunity to come out. Because we're not trying to GET anything, but we're simply GIVING what we've already got. We're not trying to be someone we're not, or get something we haven't got it. We're simply giving God an opportunity to be who He really is, and in doing so... be who we really are!

The reason God wants a broken heart is NOT because He wants you to be heartbroken. No true father (Father), or parent for that matter, would ever want their child to be anything but happy. And I know that its more of a parents job to make sure their child is cared for, safe, provided for. But if you can make your kid smile... that's the good stuff. So having you beaten down, broken, busted, and disgusted is NOT what God wants for you. I know religion makes you miserable, but Jesus didn't come to give us religion. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He came to show us the Father. To tell us, and show us, what love is. Because at that time (before the cross), and seemingly many times in our lives, we ARE heartbroken. I heard a comedian once say it like this, "Life's tough. Get a helmet." And I like to say it like this, "Tough times don't last, but tought people do." Because life happens. To all of us. Every day. And as easy as it is to want to shake your fist at the heavens and blame God... I think life is just messy. It doesn't always go the way you want it to. Or the way you think it should. Sometimes life will break your heart. And that's when God has the opportunity to do what He does. To be who He IS. God doesn't want a broken heart because He wants you to be heartbroken. God wants a broken heart--and when I say that, I mean He wants you to BRING Him your broken heart--because only then can He MEND the broken heart. And that's what love does. Expose your cracks, and love will fill them. Love doesn't pile on and make things worse. Love doesn't kick you when you're down. Love lifts you up. Love keeps you from falling. And love can take broken pieces and put them back together. New and improved. Because when we go through something hard... we learn and grow from it. I've said this before but my dad prides himself on making mistakes just about every day... but never making the same mistake twice. While I, on the other hand, prefer to make the same mistake six or seven times just to be sure that its REALLY a mistake. (I'm partly kidding, but I'm also completely hardheaded sometimes.) The point is: Mistakes are GOING to happen. And when we try to do everything ourselves, and refuse to ask for help, that's when things just get worse and worse. I don't like to ask for help. Because I don't like to NEED help. But I KNOW that asking for help is NOT a sign of weakness. It is a sign of wisdom. Its not good for man to be alone. We were not meant to do everything by ourselves. Its too much. Life is meant to be shared. We need each other. Let me quote my verse before I run out of room: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we are weak, God has the opportunity to be strong. When we are heartbroken, He has the opportunity to fill us up. With love. With Himself. Fill us to overflowing so that what's inside comes out. Naturally. But I don't think He will often force Himself on us. He's a gentleman. He's always THERE for us. But He waits for us to give Him that opportunity to be who He is. In us, and through us, and as us!

This Rant series might take a little bit of explaning. Which is why I like to do them in a five part series--I can stay on one topic for a few days and really kind of dig into it. But my point for this series is: For the most part, God doesn't force His will on people. He simply presents it to them. The Spirit and the bride say come, in the sense of, "Come and get it!" Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He doesn't huff and puff and blow the house down. He waits for an invitation, or an opportunity. And I say, "for the most part" because sometimes God does what He's going to do. Take the cross, for example. Jesus was lifted up from the earth and He drew all men into Himself. Basically, we didn't have a choice when Adam "fell" because at that time he was humanity's representative. And we didn't have a choice when Jesus drew us out of Adam and into Himself. But even though that already happened, and the truth is the truth whether you believe it or not, you DO have a choice about whether or not you experience that truth. Because its the truth you know and believe that sets you free. So when I say what I'm about to say I don't want it to sound negative. I want to be able to let it breathe, so that we can see what's really going on here. Ready? (Ready or not.) "The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God" (Psalm 51:17 NLT). This makes it sound like God won't accept you unless you're beat down, broken, busted, and disgusted. Like Christians (even though the Psalms were written before the term "Christian" even existed) are supposed to go around town weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth. And I've even heard people describe Jesus this way. Because Jesus wept (His good friend had just died). And because there is a prophecy in there somewhere about Jesus being a man of constant sorrow. (Or maybe that's a song from O' Brother Where Art Thou? but you get the point.) The point is, religion has made us so miserable that we think we're SUPPOSED to be miserable. But what I see in this verse in the Psalms is that God is all about restoration. My Bible case says, "God Allows U-Turns." And I always add that I think He ENCOURAGES them. I think God is willing to let us do what we're going to do, for the most part. Jonah tried pretty unsuccessfuly to do what he wanted to do, but like I said, for the most part. When the people of Israel wanted a human king God said, "You don't want a human king. I'm your king." But He relented. He gave them what they THOUGHT they wanted. Because sometimes, no matter how hard it is, you have to let people make their own mistakes. You can't live life for other people. And people ARE going to do what they're going to do, no matter how much sage wisdom and advice you have. But at the same time, I think God is always ready for an opportunity to set things right. If you have a hard heart... then it is what it is. But if you have a broken spirit, a broken and repentant (that's a key word that we're going to hit hard) heart then God has something He can work with. If it ain't broke--or you THINK it ain't broke--God won't necessarily fix it. But if you bring it to Him as a sacrifice... well... now He's got the opportunity to do what only He can do. Which is to mend a broken heart...