Crazy Love...Crazy Past

 

 

Is it me or has the world lost its mind? There’s always certain headlines that grab my attention and usually isn’t for the right reasons. The one that has got me completely baffled is one that is not only making headlines in the news but also filling up my Facebook newsfeed and apparently being retweeted and reposted on Instagram. This picture has gone viral and received over 30,000 likes on the first day it was posted. It is a picture of a felon, his mugshot from the police department's Facebook page where he is being held on 6 felony charges. It seems ladies think this criminal is so good looking, that they wouldn’t mind dating him. Some have even made a facebook fan page for him. They are willing to overlook his felonies and the fact he is being held on $1 million dollar bail. According to his family, he is a married father who is working to put his past behind him.

And how many of us don’t have a past that we are ashamed of or embarrassed about? He is a convicted felon who allegedly used to belong to a gang but still has the tattoos of that affiliation and now feels he needs to carry around weapons for his own safety. He may be a changed man but his past is still affecting his present and future. He will always have to live with the stereotypes or preconceived ideas of him as a criminal regardless of how much he is working to learn from his mistakes and move on. He didn’t ask to become famous. I can’t vouch for him and I am in no way agreeing with his actions of allegedly being in a car with weapons, but the only people he is responsible for and accountable to are his wife and kid.  The only one who knows his heart and can tell if he has changed or not is God.

 

Whether its something you've never told anyone, or things no one knows about. Whether its been something you have been convicted of or got away with. Whether it was something you did to others or to yourself. We all have past experiences and mistakes that have shaped the person we are today. No matter how big or small, or hidden or public our past mistakes may have been we all have to deal with the consequences of our actions. With people, our actions get us labels.  People start associating us as liars, cheaters, selfish, greedy, thieves....whatever the case, and sometimes its hard for people to really get to know who we are today without bringing up who we have been or what we have done.

 

Though we can't change what we have done, or how people perceive us, or even the consequences of our actions, our past can stay in the past. You dont have to be bound by it, or defined by it. It doesn't necessarily have to shape your future. You can take it all as learning experiences and grow and turn into a different direction. Though people may not want to give you that chance, there is a God who does. One who's loved you through it all, no matter the shame, the guilt or the feelings that you can't change. He can make all your mistakes and broken mess beautiful. One who awaits with open arms and loves you too much to give up on you.

 

Perhaps we as a society will always think of this felon as a a convicted felon, a gang member and a criminal but his family says that's not the case. He has found love and may be trying to be the man his wife and son need.

 

You may be at a point in your life where you feel you've made one too many mistakes, or you're too far to make a u-turn and turn around, but as long as you have life you have an opportunity to change who you are and who you will be.

 

Thinking I was a know it all, I made a lot of young and stupid mistakes. Thankfully, I discovered God's unconditional love and forgiveness. And freedom from shame and guilt. He also gave me people who know me and my past and still love me and accept me for who I could be and not what I have been. Though you may not be convicted of a felony, or feel you can relate to the pictured felon Jeremy Meeks, you may relate to having things from your past follow you. Remember, you can't change that but you don't have to live with regret. You can change you today! 

There is crazy love for a crazy past. God's love. And remember you are more. More than the choices you have made, more than just a sum of your past mistakes. You can be remade!