Not Crushed: The Verse That Carried My Story

Although I grew up reading scripture, there’s one verse I wish had stood out to me earlier in life, a verse that sounds like it was written for those who carry scars hidden beneath their shirts and stories they don’t know how to tell.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:8–10 (NIV)

Even though I had read the verse many times before, one day I opened to it and it didn’t feel like scripture.

It felt like someone had been watching my life.

My Life in That Verse

Every line of that passage echoes chapters from my memoir Split Down The Middle.

Hard pressed on every side:
I’ve lived that.
In Newburgh, in Puerto Rico, in Brooklyn—poverty, addiction, abandonment, violence.
Pressure from every angle—emotional, spiritual, physical.
It felt like life was closing in with no way out.

But not crushed:
That part? That’s where the grace lives.
Because I should’ve been crushed.
But I wasn’t.
Somehow, some way, I was still breathing—still standing.

Perplexed, but not in despair:
I didn’t always understand the pain.
Why my mother gave me away.
Why I felt invisible.
Why I kept chasing destruction.
But even when I didn’t have answers, something in me kept going.

Struck down, but not destroyed:
From the streets to the pulpit.
From drugs to fatherhood.
From betrayal to healing.
I’ve been knocked flat—but I’ve never been destroyed.
That’s not strength. That’s God.

What I Carried in My Body

Paul writes that we “carry around in our body the death of Jesus.”
I used to carry rage.
I carried silence.
I carried shame.

But now?

Now I carry the story of someone who was broken,
but not beyond repair.

Someone who thought pain had the final word,
but now speaks life.

Someone who was struck down by the world,
and lifted up by something greater.

This Verse Lives in My Story

Split Down The Middle isn’t just a memoir about struggle.
It’s a story of rising from the dead parts of your life.
About what it means to survive with scars,
and still stand up with a voice.

This scripture isn’t just a good quote.
It’s my testimony.

I didn’t just make it out.
I was carried.
And now, I carry that grace into everything I do.

If you’ve been pressed, confused, hurt, or struck down…
but you’re still here?

This verse is yours too.

Hold it close.