Loving Severely

Today we are supposed to wear purple in honor of the teens that have committed suicide recently and to show support for GLBT teens.  We are letting them know they are not alone and that they are loved and valued.
I feel like blogging about this is cheating since so many people smarter than me have already written about it.  But, wearing purple is not enough for me. Therefore, I am writing.
The God of the universe loves us severely. I can't think of any other word to put in place of severe.  He didn't just tell us in the covenant with Abraham.  He didn't just chase us through our defiance in the Old Testament.  He didn't even just break us to get our attention in the Old Testament.  Wearing purple to get our attention and show His love would not satisfy Him.  So the Holy God, the Righteous God, looked at us in our most hopeless, worthless, and depressed state, and sat down in the middle of it.  The moment Jesus was born, the divine dove headfirst into all of the good, bad, and ugly of humanity.
I'm not even discussing the cross today.  Because our first taste of hope is knowing that God became human so He could share our experiences, know from first hand experience what life for us was like.  I was lost, lonely, and desperate. He sat down beside me.  He didn't rush immediately to fix me or the problem (that comes at the cross).  He first spent 33 years living, teaching, and experiencing.
I honestly think this kind of love that joins in the life is much stronger, much more real, and very severe.  He didn't want me to be better so He'd have a better Chesna.  He just wanted me, and loved me, and was going to want and love me long before I could ever be "ok."
I can see no other way for us to love each other.  We can not sit on the sidelines of peoples lives and yell cheap cliches in place of sharing our lives.  If we are to love others as God has loved us, we have to live with them, sit down in the middle of where ever they are, and invest in them personally.  We cannot be removed, because God is not removed from us.  We have to love severely.  
So to all of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered young people that are being abused, to those who are beyond just struggling with depression, to those who can only experience release through pain: we're here.  We are living right along beside you, we will sit with you right were you are, and will share your life.  You are loved severely by people around you, and by a God who pursues you exactly where you are today.  Don't give up.