Sunday, April 21, 2013

Cracked Pottery


Isaiah 46:8, "O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand."

How many items of cracked pottery do you own? Long forgotten terracotta containers in a garden shed, a backyard or garage. Broken over the years but not so much to throw away. I have a clay fire place that I burn wood in once in awhile. Over the years, the continuous heating and cooling of the clay caused cracks to appear. You might call it character, but it will be only a matter of time before it breaks apart. Yet when the fire roars it looks so cool! The flame shoots through the spaces and I don't pay much attention to the brokenness of the container.

Cops see a lot of brokenness in the course of a career. Stuff that stays with you long after an arrest is made, a case is investigated or a body is mended. I can testify to the fact that there is evil in this world and we live in total depravity. More often than not, total depravity links directly to the abuse of drugs and alcohol. It makes no difference if a person is a homeless alcoholic or a teenager addicted to drugs, the effects of abuse become evident over time with every arrest or failed attempt at sobriety. The damage inflicted is greater than what is done to a human body, it destroys relationships; separates us from friends, family and God. Yet even in the darkness of addiction, healing can happen and a spark can ignite the fire of a human soul.

One afternoon, I was using a radar gun down the street from a school and caught a guy driving well over the posted speed limit. The man pulled over and when I got to the driver's side window, the distinctive smell of marijuana wafted from the car. I told the guy I stopped him for speeding and he was more then willing to admit his poor driving. Anything  to take the focus off of the blue haze floating out of his car window. I asked to see his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance. After he handed everything over, I told him, "Now give me the rest of the marijuana you were smoking."

After a moment of surprise and a fleeting attempt to deny he was smoking pot, he handed over a small plastic bag with what was left of the green, leafy substance. I searched his car and noticed a key chain with a trinket shaped like a Tupperware bowl. It was the small white pebble inside that got my attention. It was cocaine. The guy was arrested and went to jail. I managed to turn a traffic infraction into a felony arrest. A good days work.

Months passed and the following year on July 4th, I was walking a foot patrol through a beachside parking lot when a man I did not recognize called to me from a rather nice, fifth wheel camper. It was the man I arrested. He told me that it was because I caught him that he turned his life around. Taking me by the arm, he brought me over to his RV and introduced me to his family. He announced with joy that I was the cop that helped him stopped using drugs. He insisted I sit with him and eat. He was a new man. The scars remained but a light of peace shined in his eyes.

"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."  Job 33:4

I don't know if this man was a believer, but I do know that when the Spirit of God dwells in you, people don't see the imperfections of our exteriors, they see Jesus. It is through our brokenness that God's grace shines through. We are created by God and when filled with the Holy Spirit, it is that light that shines though through the cracks. As the grace and mercy of the Holy Spirit grows in our hearts, the old pottery falls away and people see who we are intended to be in Christ.

Consider the words of 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 and 16-18:

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

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