When The Hearts Of Men Fail (Will the Church be ready?)

With everything that is going on in our world, and the hearts of men fail and this world comes crashing down, will the Church be ready to rise? I believe it will. I believe it is rising now. In every fire in the western states. In the addictions and homelessness of every burrough of our inner cities. In the hurricanes and floods of the Gulf Coast, the West Indies, and Florida.

What do we do when hardship hits the palace? Here is a look at the rise of God's Princes and Princesses who are becoming Kings and Queens. Who are slaying dragons today.

My Broken Palace. See, in America we all live in A Broken Palace. A place for beauty AND beast. Of more AND least.  Where Princes and Princesses, Kings and Queens – Where Dragons and Jesters all meet.

Where a frog is turned into a Prince. Where Princesses find slippers and Prince’s to marry forever after. Well, that’s how the story goes.

My Broken Palace. You know how the story goes. We write new scenes to introduce our old lives. We cover rusted gates with paint. We fix broken arms with band-aids. We beautify pigs with dresses. But, you know, they are still rusted gates, broken arms, and ugly pigs.

My Broken Palace. Where Rapunzel wonders what it’s really like outside the castle. Letting down her hair for a Prince to rescue her from her despair. It may look like a castle but nobody sees the hassle. The struggle. The tussle.

It may look like a Palace but nobody sees the malice. The loss. Or the dross. Cuz we all live behind the mote and the wall. Behind the shrubs and the façade of the castle. It’s not what it seems. The marquee isn’t saying whose really playin’. Not for real. It's Surreal.

My Broken Palace. Where we sweep our brokenness under the rug or put it in the closet or say we don’t really have it. We ignore what we know is there for all to see.

That we hate each other and the weather. Get upset with our neighbor or a brother. We tell each other you’re a bother. Our parents to shut up Cuz we’re fed up. Cuz we sweep our brokenness under the rug and keep it in the closet.

My Broken Palace. Since hardship and trial are part of Christianity and Scripture, why are we so upset about hardship and trial in Christians and Culture? We act like it shouldn’t touch us, it shouldn’t be us. Not in the US. And not in my Palace.

But, this mansion, our bastion of hope and ultimate future, is where the pain becomes His platform. Where the mess becomes His message. Where the chaos is placed on His canvass. Where the tragedy becomes His triumph. Where ruins are redeemed and turned into Rewards.

 My Broken Palace. A Palace where the King lives in His castle to rule. Where Kings are crowned and Queens are wed. Who birth Princes and Princesses who live in broken palaces.

Who slay dragons.

Just like Esther, the Old testament Queen who made a decision to stand in her nation, the Church has been born for such a time as this. If we do not rise, then who will? I believe in the Church and the Youth Ministry of America. All over this nation young people are rising in the face of darkness. They are leading their families, leading at school, leading at Church, and leading in the community.

If the Church is in the hands of the young people that I see across America, the Church is in great hands.