Bloody-faced on a bicycle

I was driving down Academy Boulevard on a Monday morning on my way to work. Normal day, beautiful views, windows down, and then it all changed...whether I wanted it to or not. I saw a woman laying on the groud with blood rushing down her forehead and her glasses bent to heck. I pulled over, picked her up, picked up her bike, and asked her what had happened. Crazy morning- two bad falls on the bike on her way to the courthouse for her hearing. As I we drove downtown the blood cleared enough to realize that she was going to be okay...her face at least. I couldn't believe that world of hurt that Cathy had bathed in each waking moment. Some call it life, for her it has been a nightmare. Sexually abused as a child, moved out of the house as a teen, promised herself she wouldn't marry a man that would do to her kids what her father did to her, married a guy like that, and here she sits today...in my car...looking at me through bent specs. And the worst part, she was always pushed away by the Church. When will we start loving the people that need love most? When will we realize that we are in the presence of the least of these? When will we realize that Jesus loved on the brokenhearted? I am grateful for those who are.