The INSIDE Trauma

When I was about 8 years old I saw a photo of a man who had literally been cut in half! My mom worked for our small town newspaper in Oklahoma and the local police department contracted her out to take pictures of the body of an oilfield worker who was tragically killed in an accident on an oil rig. A pressure valve that releases thousands of pounds of pressure opened and he was standing next to it. Needless to say he was instantly killed.

My mom told me about having to shoot the pictures. So, I went through her things to find them because I was so curious to see what it looked like. Yes, just like any punk kid, I wanted to see an authentic picture of a dead guy. What I didn’t expect is the vivid detail and exposure of what the inside of a person looks like. His body had been severed by the pressure value leaving full exposure of his internal organs. I will never forget what I saw that day.

I’m not trying to gross you out but the truth is that is how many of us are spiritually. We don’t want to look at what is inside. It’s vivid, painful, gross, and not very enticing. It can even be traumatic. So, what we opt for is the easy, the light, the less gross path. We try to avoid any pictures of what we look like inside thinking we are actually avoiding something dreadful when actually we are only accentuating the trauma. Avoiding trauma only deepens the wound. At times we must choose the gross to experience the most.

So, listen to me when I say, stop right now and look at the picture. See the dread so you can rejoice in the beauty of the restorative power of Jesus Christ. He was “pierced through” for our transgressions. Literally, he was cut in half for you to see the grossness of what is inside in order to be captured by the beauty of what is inside Jesus. And now, He is inside you. From gross to beautiful. That’s Jesus. That’s what He does inside you and me. So, go through the trauma to see the glory.