Deeply wounded

What is the common thread that binds together gay / lesbian individuals?  What overarching similarity is there between them, whether they be acting out or celibate?  One might think it's their attraction sexually to the same sex, but I've discovered that attraction between the same sexes varies dramatically from individual to individual.  It can run rampant like a pack of wild horses or be as quietly annoying as a leaky faucet.  Both circumstances are derived from the same root but bring about their own challenges.

I had the privilege this past week to speak to a new friend who found me hear in cyberspace.  It was great to have the opportunity to hear his story.  He was as open an honest as one could be at one of life's crossroads.

I've known a number of gay and lesbians during my almost 40 years here on Earth.  Some of them I didn't realize at the time resided in that camp.  Others, I found there almost immediately.  The most interesting experience relative to that occurred at a conference I attended years ago here in Jackson.  Similar in build to "Love Won Out", it provided opportunity for fellowship and Biblical teaching for Christian gays and lesbians and their families.

During one of the breaks at this conference, I ran into an old friend from college.  What could have been a very awkward encounter instantly resulted in a return to the familiar in terms of our tangential relationship during our short stint together.  Both he and I were in the marching band back in the day.  He was one of the first guys I met on campus due to the fact that I was required to be there one week prior to class starting in order to participate in band camp.  Neither of us ever discussed our sexuality during those four years together, though we did talk openly about many other things.  During my freshman year, I was even able to spend some time with this family as they lived there in our small college town.  Upon seeing him in the lobby of the church where the conference was held, everything came together almost instantly within my mind.  I knew then what I'd always known, and I felt a sense of belonging that I wouldn't have known otherwise had I not made that reconnection.

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Perhaps we're just not as thick skinned as most.  I'm beginning to think that's where the crux of the problem lies.  Or maybe we simply don't have immune systems that work correctly to begin with, therefore a simple emotional nick can easily get infected and become much more serious.  And that, in turn, takes an extra long time to heal, not to mention be re-opened / festered with little to no effort.  Finally, at least as children, this pattern sets in as the norm and the wound becomes more than an injury.  It becomes, in many ways, part of the identifiable core of the person.

Eventually, a decision must be made regarding how to handle oneself relative to this wound / tendency to wound easily. 

The most disturbing coping method to witness is the excel technique.  This is not just putting your best foot forward.  It's doing so after removing everything from it, leaving just dry bone.  It's a divorcing of oneself from any authentic emotion(s) and therefore a decoupling from any recollection or even the slightest acknowledgement of the wound(s) or tendency thereof.

I digress...

Jesus Christ is the ultimate healer according to Scripture.  He knew the wound(s) of each and every individual he met, and if they allowed, was able to minister exactly as needed.

We are all inherently broken people.  Add to the fact that gays and lesbians are more easily crushed that much further during the early stages of our lives (and beyond).  This only serves to complicate things that much more as we grow and become in a fallen world.  How much more then do we need a Savior!  Not only to be healed and ultimately reassembled, but to be consistently ministered to by the Holy Spirit, finding supernatural courage and testimony to embrace our weaknesses even during the most difficult of circumstances.