Living In Open Brokenness: Becoming the Mosaic God Wants You to Be

By Jack P. Hardcastle

We live in a world where everyone has a difficult time admitting weakness, failure, and especially brokenness. The process of being “broken” does not mean that we are somehow separated from God- in fact, it is the opposite! It is in our brokenness that we are drawn to God, and to each other. This book will challenge you in your thinking about who we need to be individually, in our families, and as a church, especially in the culture we are currently living in. God has asked us to share our brokenness with each other, so that all our broken pieces together create a beautiful mosaic. In this process, we create a new paradigm that can change the world and move to a place of acceptance for all broken people- as broken people ourselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Jul 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684707324

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HARDCASTLE

Copyright © 2019 Jack P. Hardcastle.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0733-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0732-4 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 07/12/2019

I believe this book is truly God-ordained for such a time as this because we live in a culture, both religious and irreligious, whereby everyone has a difficult time admitting fault, failure or brokenness. We actually think it’s a sign of weakness to admit our brokenness when it’s actually the first step in becoming healthy and holy. Our marriages, parenting, friendships, work environments and churches would be so much better if we embraced open brokenness.

In this book, God has clearly used Jack Hardcastle, a man I have known and respected for years, to take readers on an incredible journey that empowers and enables us to say that it’s okay not to be okay. And in the end, this journey towards Open Brokenness will grow readers to be healthier men, women, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, elders and church leaders. Open Brokenness needs to be more than just read or preached. It needs to be lived!

-Pastor Mark Holmen, Executive Director,

Faith At Home Ministries

Jack has captured the essence of what it means to connect with people in a way that is transformative. He helps us wrap our minds around the ideas of transparency, vulnerability, accountability, authenticity and community in a way that is informative and challenging. He is calling us to something more in our Christian experience… open brokenness! "

-John L. Erwin, Founder of National Association of Family Ministry and Associate Pastor, Agoura Bible Fellowship

Jack Hardcastle’s book, Living in Open Brokenness, is a clarion call to live an authentic life of faith. Jack’s insights and stories will inspire you to become comfortable and open with any brokenness in your life and recognize those experiences as a testimony of encouragement to others.

Open Brokenness is an excellent resource for small groups and the chapter on elasticity is worth the price of the book alone. Life is simply too short to live in the shadows of denial and shame, and to that end Hardcastle’s book will motivate you to live with fresh resolve and peace.

-Ken R. Canfield PhD.

Founder, National Center for Fathering and Grand Kids Matter

INTRODUCTION

LIVING IN A BROKEN WORLD

The men are lined up, waiting in anticipation, standing in their prison issue boxers. Their exposed tattoos tell their difficult life stories, with everything from pornographic images to racist symbols. They have been called, and nothing will stop them from accomplishing what they have set out to do. These men have decided to do something that was not very popular in a place where men are incarcerated, where the major form of power is toughness.

It was December of 2017 when my son and I went out to the local prison, to graduate some men from a fathering class that I teach called Inside Out Dad (fatherhood.org). In this class we talk about everything from their own fathers to how they are currently fathering, especially from inside the walls of a prison. As I walked into the gym where the prison has its normal Wednesday night worship time, music blared loudly as I looked around for the person in charge. When no one appeared, the prison chaplain clerk came up to me and said, Man, I’m glad you’re here. We thought no one was coming… It was then I realized that my son and I were the only ones not in white jump suits, except for one guard who seemed quite disinterested in the whole process. In my role as a family minister, I had been in many situations where I was uncomfortable; but I had never been in one that felt so out of control, and especially with my son in tow. Luckily, they had an inmate worship team that started out the service, so the only part I had to fill in was the speaking in between the singing. We had our normal graduation time for my class, honoring the men who had spent twelve weeks together learning and building each other up as fathers, and then came the message part of the service. Little did I know what God was about to do with some of the other men’s hearts, as well.

As I finished up the hurried message that God had given me for that time, thirty-six men had made the decision to put on their Lord in baptism. I was shocked at what God could do with an impromptu word from a harried minister (I should have known). As I mentioned earlier, this was not a popular decision for these men in a prison setting, and no easy task for those inmates who help. One of the most amazing parts of this scenario was the process that these men went through, and the lengths that each one had to take to experience this life transformation. They literally had to become openly exposed by removing their jumpsuits, their past lives shown in the scars and pictures all over their bodies emblazoned for all to see. Many of these men were connected to gangs, Mexican mafia, and other organizations that would not look well on this decision. Yet here they stood- firm in their commitments and laying their lives out at the altar of grace.

Ironically, the baptistry was a converted