Do We Love?

My brother wrote a song around 24 years ago called, "Do We Love?".  The chorus goes like this,

Do we love anymore 

Do we love

Are we ignoring the wounded

Indifferent untouched

Do we forgive anymore

Do we uplift anymore

Reaching out our hands

With a heart that understands

Do we love

by Ronald S Estep

The chorus of this song runs through my mind often.  Whenever I feel overwhelmed or just tired of it all, this song starts playing in my heart.  I can see my brother singing it for the first time.  

A little back story:

I was 17 and getting ready to graduate from high school.  I was engaged to Bo and I just found out I was pregnant.  I didn't know how I was going to tell my parents or his.  To say I was distraught is an understatement.  I remember going to the altar and just crying.  Church has always been my special place.  If I am upset, broken down, hopeless, church is where I go for my healing to begin.  I feel completely whole in church.  I know and even at 17 I knew where to go…the altar.  

Me at 17

My brother wrote a lot of songs back then and this week, he sings a new one.  You see, I knew my parents would love me no matter what but I didn't want what I did to bring anymore hurt onto them.  Being the Pastors of our church, I knew that people would talk and instead of roast for Sunday dinner, they would feast on the talk of the Pastors daughter being pregnant before marriage.  This knowledge broke my spirit into many pieces.  

Ronald's song was so timely in my life.  He didn't know I was pregnant and wouldn't find out until after I was married.  Some of the church found out before hand because of mindless chatter but most did not until I started showing a month or two after the wedding.  The knowledge of my pregnancy kept some from not attending my wedding but for the most part, people were very kind and loving.  

My handsome Groom

When I feel disenchanted with life and would love to just focus on my family and not enter into the life that God has called me, He says, "Do you love anymore, Kimberly Hope?"  We have to be a healing hand to a hurting world.  As Christians, we cannot go to work, come home and just hibernate with our own little family.  We have to reach out and be His hand extended.  Become part of something bigger than ourselves.  Love Compels Us.  DO WE LOVE???  If we are ignoring the hurting, the broken hearted, the unwed mothers and fathers, the drug addicts, the hungry, the sad and lonely, we are ignoring GOD.  Jesus never ignored these even when they took Him out of His way.  He always loved, no matter the race, station in life, He always loved.  

So I ask you today, Do You Love Anymore?  Step out of your cocoon and reach out a hand to someone in need.  Speak a kind word to someone that you think has it all, you never know what they are going through.  Teach your children that the world goes way beyond their home and family.  You can't change something that you shy away from.  Be a world changer by touching one life at a time.

BE A WORLD CHANGER

My Groom preaching in the Philippines