A friend turned 17 today. The posts on his wall were somewhere along the lines of "Yeah dude! You'll be legal next year! Yeaaaah buddy!"

I just thought that was sad.
So he turns 18, then what? What is the next milestone he lives for? What does he fill his life with as he seeks out something to fill the hole in his heart that just gets bigger with every temporal pleasure he tastes? When does  he become numb to the emptiness, or does he just keep seeking a new high?

And little does he know... he is loved by the Most High. That there is a God out there whose heart is breaking to see his desperate search and his world-blinded eyes. How he longs to pull the blindfold off, how he longs for him to know His love!

And then there is me... given the gift of grace, tasting the goodness of the Savior. How amazing is it that when I seek, I will find? That when I feel empty, that I will be filled to overflowing, because God has so much more for me than the world. And I sit here, having just stained my hands with my own sin, and I find myself perplexed. He dips my hands in blood and they come out clean. He fills me with a renewed purpose and tells me next time, I'll deliver the blow. And then He gives me strength.

What amazing love...
how I wish I was a better example of it to this friend,
and to a world crying out for it.