with

today was one of the realest moments of my life.   i sat in a room full of people, a room full of broken people, and the tears poured down, and no one tried to hide them away.  we have been doing a series at church called "With" in the sense of God being with us.  today was called, "with... nobody."  it was about loneliness.  and by the end of the service, i realized that every person in that room was lonely in some way.  different people stood up in front of everyone and shared what makes them feel alone.  they took the innermost parts of their souls, the parts that we spend most of our time trying to hide, and stood in front of a microphone and shared it with everyone in the room.  they had the strength to be vulnerable, and it gave every other person in the room the strength to do the same.  a couple that has moved here far from home and in a year, el paso is still so lonely and hard to live in.  a woman in her 30's that thought she would be married and have children at this point in her life, stands alone.  a husband that just lost his baby through complications during pregnancy, lets the tears pour down as he tries to find the strength to share his story.  tears streak our own faces, as we see the people around us share the truth of their burdens, of their emptiness, of their life.  our tears pour down with them, and for our own emptiness.  a father and minister stands and shares his brokenness.  he tells of how he shares his faith with everyone in the world, yet his grown sons choose not to accept it as their own.  his heart is broken. the tears pour down.  as i look around me, i see my own friend's eyes filled with tears.  i know much of their brokenness, at the same time, i have no idea.  but i look around and see a tear filled room.  a group of people, that in the loneliness and brokenness of their own souls, somehow still lift their hands in praise, even as the tears pour down.  because we know in this loneliness, God is still with us.  it hurts too much to form the words to give God praise, but i know that He is there, and my heart cries out the same.  we are broken.  and for an hour today, we were not afraid to show our brokenness to each other.  we weren't afraid to be real.  and in that, we gave others the opportunity to love us, to cry with us, to pray with us, to carry our burdens with us, and God is still with us, as he is with you.