I Know What You Did Last ... Whenever

By Lane Palmer, Christian Post Guest Columnist Monday, July 16, 2007

Do you have secrets? Not like "I sometimes obsess about something hanging out of my nose" type off secret. No, I'm talking the deep, dark, and dirty little (and big) stuff that is hush-hush-top-secret-I'd-have-to-kill-you-if-I-told-you kinds of things.

It's OK, you know, because I know you do. We all do. That's the ironic thing; it is no secret that everyone has secrets. If you need proof, let me tell you about an internet phenomenon that has blown into a "Charley the Unicorn" type viral outbreak.

I call it the online confessional.

There are blogs and web sites that allow people to anonymously air out their dirty laundry and open the door to the skeletons in their closet to try and find some liberation from the prison of guilt where all of us serve out sentences for crimes committed. One particular and wildly popular blog allows you to send in postcards that visually portray your confession and allows you to write an accompanying admission. Each week on Sunday, the blog owner posts them for all the world to see, then the next Sunday he takes them down as (in my opinion) a symbolic act of absolution.

I've seen some of the postcards, and the majority of them can be described as instantly compelling, oftentimes heart wrenching, and constantly perspective shaking. See if you agree:

A photo of ballet shoes and the note, "I gave up my dream because of one bad teacher."

An image of a painful expression on a young man's face, which reads "I'm still struggling with what I've become."

A Polaroid of a shrieking mouth: "I scream every morning, because I know that I will screw up my life somehow."

See what I mean? Which is why the online confessional machine has quickly become a global group e-hug that has tapped in to one of the deepest needs of every person on planet earth.

I call it the need for forgiveness.

Not the "I feel better because I posted on the World Wide Web what I'm afraid to tell my best friend" sort of thing. Nor is this the "wow – seems like everyone is messed up to varying levels, I don't feel so bad anymore!" outlook. Yes, we all have things we don't want to admit to, and for sure we all live somewhere on the dysfunctional reservation, but we also have a much deeper problem than that:

The holy writings say, "No one is good. No, not one person. No one is wise. No one wants to know God. They all have turned away from the straight road. Together they have gone the wrong way. No one does good, not even one person! All have done wrong and all are far from being as good as God." (Romans 3:10-12,23)

The Bible also calls this the need for forgiveness – the need to be made right with God by having our wrongs erased forever. God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us, but the dark snapshots of our lives keep us at a permanent distance from Him until we are forgiven.

But how? How can the most perfect Being in the universe hit the delete key on the web page of our imperfect lives?

Here's the great news … He already did. He came to earth 2000 years ago as Jesus Christ, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. All we have to do is trust in Christ as our only hope of salvation and receive the forgiveness He offers. When we do that, we confirm the deletion He accomplished all those years ago, and we are set free from the cage of regret. Here's the way a guy named David (who could have sent in postcards showing murder and adultery) explains it:

For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:11-12)

As a great Christian woman named Corrie Ten Boom put it:

When God buries our sins in the deepest sea, He posts a sign which reads: No Fishing!

So what to do if you are struggling with issues from your past that make your walk through life painful like a rock in your soul? Well, you could send an online post card or post a message on the one stop "forgiveness" shops on the net, or you could take the advice from a disciple of Jesus named John (who betrayed Jesus when he was a teenager):

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (I John 1:9)

He probably felt a lot like the person who wrote the most stirring and heartrending message I witnessed on one of the online confessionals. It was a picture of tightly clenched hands that portrayed desperate begging.

The message was this:

"I don't know how to go back to God…and…I want to more than anything else in the world…"

Maybe you feel like that as well. If so my friend, God has an answer for you.

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Lane Palmer is the Youth Ministries Specialist for Dare 2 Share Ministries in Arvada, Colo., where he works with to provide resources for youth leaders and students. Dare 2 Share exists to energize and equip teens to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus. For more information on Dare 2 Share Ministries or the GameDay youth conference tour, please visit www.dare2share.org. Send feedback to lane@dare2share.org.