Music blares in the kitchen; straight up Satan worship. One girl is all over any guy who will allow her all the while having a steady boyfriend outside of work...Having no respect for others they degrade one another...Sex, drugs, partying, steeling, the list goes on. And this is where I, a follower of Jesus, work.
I. Love. It.
I am thriving in this place. I'm building relationships with these people. By simply following up on a major events they had or by busing there tables. They see that I'm different. Most have no idea how I feel toward Jesus. Those who do can't believe that I would go to church because I'm not like those "holy" people that condemn them in the past.
Each day that I work I am convicted that these are the kind of people I am called too. The crazy part is instead of being drained by this environment, it energizes me, it's even growing my relationship with Jesus. As I see the love Jesus had for the prostitutes and those the religious considered scum, I value His love for me and each of those I work with so much more.
As the church goes I weep for the in action we as a whole take toward reaching them (myself included until just recently). How many of us are friends with harlets, drug users, thieves, and so on? How many of us even tolerate foul language? If we don't befriend these people how will they know Jesus?
When the scribes and Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is he eating and drinking with with the tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners."~Jesus
If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there my servant will also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. ~ Jesus
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Gossip
I had a conversation the other day with a good friend who felt that my husband and I had fostered a gossip chain. My husband had written something about work, using that specific word; work. Those who read it in there minds took out the word work and placed in there church. And then they started talking to each other about it. It was something he wrote months ago and we just found out yesterday, in a gentle rebuke to us for fostering gossip.
After I arrived home I began rereading his words and found that he never mentioned the church, never even alluded to the church, and at the time he wasn't even staff at the church. But people knew we had resigned and allowed themselves to read between the lines inserting the word church in place of the word work, completely changing his point. Also allowing them selves to come to some pretty horrific conclusions.
The moral to this story is that anything can start a gossip chain.
After I arrived home I began rereading his words and found that he never mentioned the church, never even alluded to the church, and at the time he wasn't even staff at the church. But people knew we had resigned and allowed themselves to read between the lines inserting the word church in place of the word work, completely changing his point. Also allowing them selves to come to some pretty horrific conclusions.
The moral to this story is that anything can start a gossip chain.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
My mission
I have grown up always surrounded by both the church goers and those who are not. I have always had this unsettling feeling about the separation of the two.
In general I've found that both sides have this awkwardness when around the other one. I have found that the church goers are afraid of "falling into there old ways" if they spend too much time around the non-Christians. I'm not sure what "falling into there old ways" really means as we all are sinners yesterday, today, and until the day we meet Jesus face to face. So how is it that we can "fall"? Are we so immature in our belief that Jesus' sacrifice was enough that we hide in our quaint little church building? I am told there are plenty of reasons that we need to stay away--to protect our children, for the weaker brother's sake, for our personal reputation and the churches, so the world can see that we're different, and the list goes on and on and on and...
The world truly does see that we are different. They see us as a judgmental, self righteous people. They think that there is no hope for them because they haven't lived the perfect life as the "churchies" have.
Hmm...Unsettling...
I have recently gone back to work after 4 1/2 years of being a homemaker. I have had conversations with some who don't know that my husband and I have spent our entire adult lives neck deep in church ministry. The opinion they have us church goers is the opposite of love. I have spent time with those who do I know I am a church goer and as they realize this there first reaction is that I must really hate being apart of a church, as if some one is forcing me to be apart of this group.
To be honest I am revived as I spend more time with the other side and less time in the church building. In fact the unsettling feeling that I've had for years about the separation is quickly becoming a conviction. Now when I admit that I attend church I inwardly cringe, even more so the minute I use the word Christian. So I no longer call myself Christian, instead I am a friend of Jesus. I avoid talking about church activities in fact I don't participate in many of these events as I find that when I say no to the church I can say yes to my relationships outside of the church. I now have time to show the world a different kind of Jesus lover.
My mission is to be like Jesus. Jesus attracted the prostitutes, tax collectors and other outsiders by His love. My mission is to do the same, even if that means going against the traditions of the church. Even if that means to put myself in positions where my relationship with Jesus will be challenged, a place where I'll have to work to keep it strong.
Here I will work that out. I hope to cry with you, struggle with you, share joys with you, and most of all glorify the Maker with you. Together I hope we can show the world that Jesus really is the savior.
In general I've found that both sides have this awkwardness when around the other one. I have found that the church goers are afraid of "falling into there old ways" if they spend too much time around the non-Christians. I'm not sure what "falling into there old ways" really means as we all are sinners yesterday, today, and until the day we meet Jesus face to face. So how is it that we can "fall"? Are we so immature in our belief that Jesus' sacrifice was enough that we hide in our quaint little church building? I am told there are plenty of reasons that we need to stay away--to protect our children, for the weaker brother's sake, for our personal reputation and the churches, so the world can see that we're different, and the list goes on and on and on and...
The world truly does see that we are different. They see us as a judgmental, self righteous people. They think that there is no hope for them because they haven't lived the perfect life as the "churchies" have.
Hmm...Unsettling...
I have recently gone back to work after 4 1/2 years of being a homemaker. I have had conversations with some who don't know that my husband and I have spent our entire adult lives neck deep in church ministry. The opinion they have us church goers is the opposite of love. I have spent time with those who do I know I am a church goer and as they realize this there first reaction is that I must really hate being apart of a church, as if some one is forcing me to be apart of this group.
To be honest I am revived as I spend more time with the other side and less time in the church building. In fact the unsettling feeling that I've had for years about the separation is quickly becoming a conviction. Now when I admit that I attend church I inwardly cringe, even more so the minute I use the word Christian. So I no longer call myself Christian, instead I am a friend of Jesus. I avoid talking about church activities in fact I don't participate in many of these events as I find that when I say no to the church I can say yes to my relationships outside of the church. I now have time to show the world a different kind of Jesus lover.
My mission is to be like Jesus. Jesus attracted the prostitutes, tax collectors and other outsiders by His love. My mission is to do the same, even if that means going against the traditions of the church. Even if that means to put myself in positions where my relationship with Jesus will be challenged, a place where I'll have to work to keep it strong.
Here I will work that out. I hope to cry with you, struggle with you, share joys with you, and most of all glorify the Maker with you. Together I hope we can show the world that Jesus really is the savior.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." And her hurried and came down and received him gladly. When they (the religious people) saw it they all began to grumble, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."
Luke 19:5-7
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