I recall hearing a song by the 80s Christian rock band, Degarmo & Key, entitled All The Losers Win.
“Here’s to life in Jesus, where all of the losers win.*”
That song spoke to me because that’s exactly what I felt like growing up (and sometimes still feel): a loser.
It’s funny, looking back at pictures of myself as a kid, it’s hard to tell how depressed I was. Oh yeah, I got great at hiding. I was a good actor.
Ya see, while I guess I looked normal enough, inside, where nobody but God could see, I felt angry, depressed and fully out of sorts.
Like a complete freak. A full-blown loser.
The Bible is full of people like me. Before he became one of Israel’s mightiest kings, David’s own father didn’t consider him worthy enough to stand alongside his brothers when a new king was being chosen. He was in the fields attending to the sheep.
Jesus’ brothers mocked Him, thinking He must be crazy.
Samaritans and women (both looked down upon by Jews at the time), prostitutes, tax collectors, cheaters, liars, murderers and on and on it goes. All labeled “losers,” but loved by the Creator.
Each found a home in God’s family.
I guess that’s why Hugh Jackman’s movie, The Greatest Showman, moves me so much.
If you haven’t watched it, the storyline is a glamorized, Hollywood version of P.T. Barnum’s life. He gets the idea to feature human oddities—”freaks,” if you will—in his show, and suddenly, he has a hit on his hands.
Of course, there are many ups and downs in the film, but the message is this: EVERYONE matters. There are no FREAKS, we’re all just people. We are all loved and special.
Everyone is beautiful in their own way. We all have a gift, even if we haven’t discovered it yet.
People wonder why I’m a Christian. That’s because God calls me “son.” When I’m with God’s family, I’m not a freak.
I’m His child. I’m loved. I belong.
I’m not a weirdo or a fatso or any of the other names I was called as a child.
So, here’s to life in Jesus, where all of the losers win.
And thanks, Hugh, for such an outstanding example of what “love” really looks like.
* Copyright 1989, Degarmo & Key, Forefront Music
Broken People 