The story I told in class was one I told on Twitter years ago. I'll port it over here, lightly edited, for safekeeping:

About a decade ago I took my kids, then eleven and seven, to Paris for the first time. One morning we were wandering around our neighborhood there, and came across a small park.

And done!

<insert Bobby Duke “I want that” GIF here>

The BSB uses "contrite," a word I was mostly finding in translations based on the KJV. I appreciate it as a succinct adaptation of what the Amplified seems to be saying; hearts broken over sin are answered with divine rescue.

It also led to a translation rabbit hole; who does the Lord draw close to? Who does God rescue? Those who are "crushed in spirit" (NIV/NASB/ESV/HCSB, NLT/WEB are similar), "discouraged and have given up hope" (CEV), "humbly sorry for their sins" (LB), "truly sorry for their sin" (AMP).

It’s instant and involuntary, like my fingers are autocompleting “outlier” every single time.

I’d also witnessed authors like Jackie Hill Perry driven off the platform with unending harassment. I can logically recognise it was a very bad place, I just wasn’t being targeted for attack personally and can remember it more fondly. 😕

Yeah, I signed up for Twitter in late January 2007. 😅 I’d watched it (and my use of it) go through so many evolutions; from group chat in the early days, to general microblogging, to following news and authors and pastors from around the world.

Hey, I’m trying! Happy to share all my invites with Black Christian Twitter if you know anyone interested.

I think randomly offering them to people I haven’t really talked to (just follow) isn’t working out so well. 😆

I know you’re not excited, but I’m glad you’re here!

We do really need that rain.

As a North American Midwesterner, I hear this all the time from my Canadian friends!

Same in Indiana, where the running joke is that if you don’t pack several changes of clothes to go golfing, you’d die of exposure one way or another.