Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell survived...
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Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, but was burned over
60% of his body. One day, in the midst of his long and painful recovery, his pastor told
him, "God never wastes our pain."
Birdwell didn't think much of the remark at the time, considering it a pious platitude. But then, several years later, he was asked to visit a young man who had likewise been badly burned, to give him some encouragement. At that moment, his pastor's words came back to him, and he understood. Only one who had gone through the sort of pain he had known would be able to speak the word this young man needed to hear.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
In the '60s, in the deep south, a couple of black men decided to go to the whites-only counter and order lunch. The white patrons called the black men names, but they refused to move. The white customers got angrier. One picked up a bottle of ketchup and poured it on the black men's heads. Another white customer picked up a jar of mustard and smeared it on the face of one of the black men. Still, the black men refused to move. The white men began punching and kicking them. Afterward, a news reporter asked one of the black men how he could stand to be treated that way. The black man said, "I will let them kick me and kick me until they have kicked all the hatred out of themselves and into my own body, where I will transform it into love."
Birdwell didn't think much of the remark at the time, considering it a pious platitude. But then, several years later, he was asked to visit a young man who had likewise been badly burned, to give him some encouragement. At that moment, his pastor's words came back to him, and he understood. Only one who had gone through the sort of pain he had known would be able to speak the word this young man needed to hear.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
In the '60s, in the deep south, a couple of black men decided to go to the whites-only counter and order lunch. The white patrons called the black men names, but they refused to move. The white customers got angrier. One picked up a bottle of ketchup and poured it on the black men's heads. Another white customer picked up a jar of mustard and smeared it on the face of one of the black men. Still, the black men refused to move. The white men began punching and kicking them. Afterward, a news reporter asked one of the black men how he could stand to be treated that way. The black man said, "I will let them kick me and kick me until they have kicked all the hatred out of themselves and into my own body, where I will transform it into love."
