Together we sat in the dimly lit room, holding our bread and juice. The preacher was saying all the things that are said when a congregation is about to take communion. We were supposed to be praying, contemplating the meaning of these symbols. Remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made: the torture, the nails, the death on a cross and the Life that his pain purchased for us.

But all I could see was the young man seated in front of me. And the words printed on the back of his shirt. “Born To Lose.” He ate the bread, he drank the juice… “Born To Lose.” He bowed his head in prayer… “Born To Lose.”

The words confused me. It’s just a shirt you say? Perhaps. Alternative? Punk? Maybe. But still, it seems so ironic…

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 8:35-39