This is easily my favorite song off of The Long Surrender, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since I read that a friend of our family who has been serving in Haiti as a missionary has been experiencing a crisis of faith.

I wish I had something really awesome and inspiring to say to her that would help make it All Right, but the truth is that I’ve been struggling with the God thing since, like, forever. Sure, I call myself a Christian; I’m not afraid or ashamed to put a name to it. But when the chips are down, do I really have a faith big enough to keep me going? A faith that is worthy of the Grace that I continue to receive?

The answer is: not really. I struggle. I’m a mess. I’m imperfect. I’m just trying to find a way though life, hoping to leave this world a better place.

I don’t believe in Satan as That Guy With the Horns and the Pointy Stick. I do believe he is the one that whispers into my ears, tempting me to Just Stop. “What’s the point?” he would say. “Just lie down and wait for death. It won’t be long now.”

Then a song like this comes along to remind me that we’re all one, big broken mess, and that’s alright. When we strip down the barriers, when we put away the masks that we wear in the daytime, we’re pretty much the same:

All my favorite people are broken
Believe me
My heart should know

Some prayers are better left unspoken
I just want to hold you
And let the rest go

All my friends are part saint and part sinner
We lean on each other
Try to rise above

We are not afraid to admit we are all still beginners
We are all late bloomers
When it comes to love

All my favorite people are broken
Believe me
My heart should know

Orphaned believers, skeptical dreamers
Step forward
You can stay right here
You don’t have to go

Is each wound you’ve received
Just a burdensome gift?
It gets so hard to lift yourself up off the ground

But the poet says, We must praise a mutilated world
We’re all workin’ the graveyard shift
You might as well sing along

Cause all my favorite people are broken
Believe me
My heart should know

(As for) your tender heart—this world’s going to rip it wide open
It ain’t gonna be pretty
But you’re not alone

Linford Detweiler wrote the lyrics. His wife, Karin, translates them into a glorious sound.