Every Thursday I feature a “throwback” post from my blog archive. The goal is to look back and discover new lessons or opportunities to grow. This week, we’ll look at “Dynamite and Duct Tape” You can view the original post here. For today, here’s a quick recap and a few more thoughts about moving beyond our mistakes.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where everything seems to be falling apart, and you contemplate doing something extreme like escaping to Mexico to start a fishing charter. Or maybe your mishaps are more mundane, like a kitchen disaster that ends with a trash can full of couscous and a hasty drive to Chick-fil-A¹. Perhaps you’re somewhere in between, facing a project that’s gone off track and desperately in need of a fresh start. Honestly, I think I speak for us all when I say, we’ve all have moments when we wish for a “do-over.”

Looking back at the original post, I can still remember being completely fascinated by the fact that additional stone can be attached to a sculpture to correct mistakes. Stone, to me, always seemed permanent, a medium where each tap of the hammer and chisel had to be perfect if one was to even have a chance at creating a masterpiece like Michelangelo’s “David” or Alexandros of Antioch’s “Aphrodite of Milos.” Until that moment, I believed that truly great art required perfection.

This belief in perfection had secretly infiltrated my thinking, making me set unrealistically high standards for myself in various aspects of life. Honestly, I believed that if perfection could be achieved, even in one obscure field that I would never engage with, it should probably be the standard for everything I do. I know, this is crazy, but it highlights the unrealistic expectations I had placed on myself.

When I watched this video, I was in a room full of youth pastors. The leader of the trip asked us for takeaways from the video, especially ones that related to youth ministry. I practically leapt from my chair and made the joke everyone was expecting. I said, “Attaching extra stone to a mountain to cover up something you broke is about the most youth ministry thing I’ve ever heard.” The room erupted in laughter but then I added something that I needed to hear more than I needed to share. I said, “But it also goes to show that nothing is beyond repair, and no one is too broken for God’s redemption.”

Perfection will do everything in its power to get you to believe “it’s not worth doing if you can’t do it perfectly.” I don’t think that’s a “famous” quote but it’s something I hear from the perfectionist part of my brain so often that I thought I should give it credit. Here’s what perfectionism doesn’t want you to know: if someone can accidentally damage a larger-than-life stone statue and still complete the job, you can handle making occasional mistakes.

It may not be easy, fun, or straightforward to rebuild what’s broken, but you’re never too broken or “messed up” to be redeemed. The good news is that it was God, the Creator of the universe, who decided this. When faced with the brokenness of creation, He took even more extreme measures than those sculptors at Stone Mountain. Instead of using dynamite or duct tape, He sent His Son, Jesus, to bridge the gap and to pay the price for our sins.

I initially had a different ending in mind for this post. However, I believe that instead of concluding with a punchline, a question, or a catchy one-liner, I should leave you with a passage of scripture from the book of Romans. In this passage, Paul shares the Gospel with the church in Rome, emphasizing the amazing truth of who Jesus is, how we are no longer captive to our sin nature, we are no longer bound by the chains of our failures, and instead, we are free and redeemed through faith in Jesus.

As you read these words, I encourage you to seek God’s guidance, confess the things holding you back, and meditate on His message. These words are a reminder from your Creator, telling you how much He loves and cares for you. You’re not too broken, you’re not too messed up, and you are enough.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39, NIV

1. That’s a fun story that I promise to share one day!