Broken Eggs

In our house, we eat eggs for Breakfast quite often. I know some people disapprove, and say they’re not so good for you, but they provide a relatively easy option to get some protein into the family, which is good for us, so we’ll go ahead and make the choices for our family, and leave your family to you. Deal? Good.

I say relatively easy, because for as long as I’ve been making my own eggs in one or more of it’s many different available varieties, I have had trouble with eggs. Not digestively, or anything like that. It’s a physical problem. I physically have difficulty with that stinking shell on the outside. If I’m scrambling or frying eggs, or even using them in a recipe, I have the worst time breaking eggs without getting the albumen (that’s the clear part that turns white when you cook it--for the uninitiated) all over my fingers. I keep the trash can close so I don’t drip all over the floor, and some days it’s only a little bit, but inevitably, I’m getting gooey stuff on my fingers.

Unless, of course, I’m boiling the eggs. Then, it becomes a battle with the shell and the little membrane that lies under said shell around the now solidified albumen (See above note). I have done all the tricks I can find in Reader’s Digest, Cook Books, Magazines, websites, and even watching the occasional food show on TV. Unfortunately, I always have one that ends up looking like Humpty Dumpty after a hard-night of partying. It’s just all messed up. The egg is no longer smooth, but has pieces that have been pulled away by the shell, and sometimes even just leaving a large crater in the surface. I am no stranger to making a highly emotionally-motivated decision that the egg is no longer worth it, and with great, uh, gusto, I “place” it in the very bottom of the trash can through the first fifteen layers of trash with the impact sound reverberating through the crawl space under my house.

Isn’t it interesting how people are kind of like eggs? Even though we put up our outer shell that protects us from some level of impact, if we’re hit in just the right place, or encounter something that provides enough resistance, we crack, and our lives can end up a big gooey mess. (Okay, so I used the word “gooey” two--now three times in one entry. It’s just fun to type.) Some people have been through hot water in life, think they are more resilient, and have a stronger layer of protection around them. They are just trying to fool themselves, because they can be broken by different things in life. Those that feel like they were broken, but managed to pull it all together themselves will eventually discover that their lives are just scrambled and scarred. No matter the situation, we eventually feel like all the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never get us back together again.

The good news is, we don’t have to rely on human or equestrian “fixers.” We have a God who specializes in bringing about restoration and transformation. If we’ve never turned our hearts to Jesus, we can, and in doing so, be redeemed AND made new from the sticky mess that once defined us. Even those who are followers of Christ have times where they fall and are broken. Fallen eggs get broken--and we are all fallen people. (Romans 3:23) 

The King Himself can pick up the pieces of our lives, and not simply “put us back together again,” but He will recreate us into something new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We can have new life, and be defined not by the shells we put up, but by the heart within us that is full of the Holy Spirit, and belongs to God. It would be easy to think of all the ways that eggs can be fixed, or used together with other ingredients to make something wonderful, and that certainly would fit the illustration. But, I prefer to think outside that box, and remember that even though ten eggs in a row may look very much alike at one point, once they are broken reveal Swans, Turtles, Chameleons, Eagles, and quite the variety of different animals. In each of those, the egg must be cracked and broken to reveal the true beauty of what God has created. In the same way, until we let our King put us together in HIS way, we can never become all that we were made to be.

I know that brokenness hurts. I’ve been there, and I’m sure I’ll be there again. What my experience has taught me is that in all these things, we are not separated from God (Romans 8:38-39). Instead, it provides us with an opportunity to turn to Jesus, and allow Him to work through the pain to make us stronger than we ever were before, and revealing who we can be in Him.

Songs of the Past

I’m a nostalgia kind of guy. It’s not that I’ve ever been accused of being overly-sentimental or silly about it, but I can be take back to past experiences very quickly. I’m sure my wife would like me to tell her more often, but every July 4th I remember that it was on that very day in 2001 that I kissed her and “knew…” Yeah, THAT kind of “just knew.” When I was in Baton Rouge last summer for my brother’s wedding, I remember seeing a few places that I would frequent growing up, and it triggered some fun memories of times with friends. For the record, I now realize that cruising town in a mini-van with M.C. Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” blasting out the open windows is not quite as cool as me and my friends thought.

Which brings me to the one thing that has always been the strongest pull of nostalgia. Music is my weakness, and has made me into a crazed fan more than once in my life--as one friend from college recently remembered on a Facebook post. Because I tend to saturate myself with different music, certain songs immediately take me to different places in my life. Anytime I hear “Dreams” by Van Halen, I am transported to third grade when their “5150” was my very first album. (It was on cassette--do any of you remember those?) “Go West Young Man” by Michael W. Smith was what I listened to over and over during my tenth-grade year of Youth Camp. “Love of a Lifetime” by Firehouse is one of the songs I sang at my (now) Brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s wedding that made my (now) wife pay attention to me, “Faithfully” by Journey is the song we first danced to at their reception, and just over a year later, “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain was our first dance as a married couple.

Since it’s Valentines Day, I felt like going down that particular memory lane to make my point. The truth is, many songs will take me back, and many of them have great meaning. Just last week, I discovered and bought a used copy of a CD that was stolen from me just after college. The singer is Jonathan Pierce, who is pretty well unknown by many people. He never really “made it big,” but certainly had his fans. He got his start singing with the Gaither Vocal Band, and released a solo CD in the mid-1990’s. I bought the CD and on it are two songs that quickly meant alot to me.

Because of different things I was going through, I was really challenged with the lyrics (and powerhouse vocals) of two songs. “One Love” is the title track that quite simply just reminds us that with all that’s going on in our world, the Love of Christ is powerful enough to change individuals, those around us, and even the world. It’s a personal, pursuing, and deep love that Christ has for us, and that took Him to the cross on our behalf. “Healing Hands” is another song that simply reminds us that no matter what condition our hearts are in, no matter how beaten, bruised, or broken, the hands of Jesus are waiting to heal us and restore us with His love.

As far as deep spiritual insight goes, I haven’t shared anything new or particularly life-changing. But, sometimes the simple musings of one person can trigger our own thoughts and send us to that place where we remember songs or experiences that mean a great deal to us. Just for grins, I’m posting videos here with those songs, and maybe you will enjoy them for yourself. Either way, don’t ever be afraid to reminisce and think of how God has brought you to where you are either because of or in spite of the different places you’ve been. Just don’t stop there--make yourself available for God to continue moving you where He can use you in the future!