Loving broken people - some thoughts

I'm not good at loving broken people - part of it being that I don't know many - or even any. I have been reading different books, articles, etc... about loving the needy. I think I'm on a journey. Donal Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz, has been fascinating - but I'm not done. The Church Of Irresistible Influence (or click here) was very good (Robert Lewis), and a few articles have been great (even in the EFCA Today magazine - a quote from Rick Warren - about having been to Bible college and 2 Seminaries and never noticing the 2000+ verses about helping the poor).

Here are some quotes from an article by Jim Palmer (let me say that I do not want to promote all of his theology at all - but I like these tidbits). I don't have a source for this - it was pasted in an email to me. Hope it helps you think a bit.

The theology I learned at seminary in the northwest suburbs of Chicago didn't add up to much in South Asia when I sat across from a little girl moments before she was raped. I would have long since conveniently buried this experience beneath a mountain of rationalizations if I hadn't looked deep into the vacant eyes of a 12-year-old sex slave and vowed never to forget. Returning to my past world of ignorance would relieve my grief, but I can't go back; it no longer exists.

The common question is, "Where is God in the midst of pain and suffering of the world?" The better question is, "Where are you, Jim, in the midst of the world's suffering?"

Jim Palmer is the author of Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you) (W Publishing Group).