I was talking to Andrea last week,  when I told her I think this time of year screws with everyone.  At work, all of a sudden every single request or issue is a matter of life or death.  I honestly think that people let the season consume their lives.  I can probably say I’m guilty of this too.  Getting out to the stores, moving around people, and all of a sudden there is this sense of urgency in my life.  I can’t be 2 minutes late for church, I have to leave immediately, I can’t sit still.  You know the feeling?

I don’t know that this is the best way to celebrate the marked date for the birth of Christ.  I mean becoming a mob of a country from October (only getting earlier every year) all the way to January 1st.  We’re getting lost in shopping, marketing campaigns, and campaigns to “keep Christ in Christmas.”  Shortly after joining that campaign, we tackle a middle aged lady for a Tickle-Me-Elmo, then we run to the line to pay, when that little man jumps in front of us, so we proceed to curse him out.  Then we go to our over-heated homes, and every time we write the word, we put quotations around Christ.

If we are going to start a ‘Keep the Christ in Christmas Campaign’, are we doing it the right way?  Is Christ upset that people want to call it X-mas, or if people want to say “Happy Holidays”?  Personally, I think Jesus probably wouldn’t mind too much.  I don’t remember him ever really getting upset for people not giving him enough credit.  I imagine his desire for us is to love. (And I’m fairly sure tackling that middle aged lady probably isn’t what he had in mind.. no?)  So, if you are part of a keep ‘Christ’ in Christmas campaign, ask yourself, are you living it, or are you merely putting quotes around it?

Remember, the reason we celebrate this time of year is because God sent his only son to save us from our sins.  Not to put lights up, fight for the best parking space, and get our kids the biggest best gift.  Jesus was born, so 30 some odd years later he could carry MY sins on a cross, all the way to the grave, not to insure his name be engraved all over cards, t-shirts, and Facebook Groups.

We all have a tendency to do this.  Right?  To look at people who are jacked up, and judge.  We look at the alcoholic and think, man that guy is completely screwed up.  He must not have been hugged enough.

Or we look at the child molester thinking, I think we should kill all child molesters. (Trust me I have thought it as I think my entire family was molested by someone.)  It’s a thin line we walk each day with preconceptions.

It’s not often we look at ourselves in the mirror and think, “Man, that porn addict has really got some issue.”  Or, “Man, That guy in the mirror is so jacked up, with all of his pride, we should kill all prideful folk..”

What I’m saying is, God wants us, no… He commanded us to love all people, with all of their sin.  Is it hard?  Yes.  I don’t think anyone ever said it will be easy.  Sometimes I think that’s what we think, or at least I did when I became “Born Again”.

I wanted to judge rapists, and not look at myself.  I wanted to kill molesters, and live eternal life myself.  I am always afraid to look at myself.  Truth is, as humans we are all capable of some pretty screwed up crap.  Whether it’s over eating (guilty). Being vain. (Guilty) Foul Mouths. (guilty) Alcoholism. (guilty) Drug addiction. (guilty) Murder, Rape, molestation, or abuse.  We are all human, and we are all capable of and in need of the same things. The first thing we need to do is separate ourselves from sin.  Not him or her, but Me.

We are also all capable of loving, but why is it so much harder to do than all of that other bad crap?   Simple.  Because Love is NOT of this world.  And we are called to be the exact same thing. Not of this World.  We are called to Love.  We are called to be Christ.  Some big sandals to fill.

It’s not possible to do it alone, that’s why we need each other, we need to love each other, trust each other, and Him.

For the past two years I have been the A/V guy for Bearean Christian Church’s Gwinnett campus.  It’s been a great time, and the extra money has helped me through what would have been a few tough times otherwise. This church is not my ‘main church’, but it was somewhere I managed to learn a good bit about the word. (Even if I had to weed out stuff I don’t agree with.)

Last night it became official.  Pastor Kevin Lee called me to confirm what i had been fearing/hoping (does that make sense?)  For a few months now.  January 1st, they will be using their own sound guy and will no longer need my assistance.  While, I am kind of scared of that, for financial reasons, I am 100% certain that God will provide.  I am grateful that this has happened as well.  See.  The three days a week I worked were Mondays at 6:30pm, Thursdays at 6:30pm and Saturdays at 4:30pm.  So, while I was with work, it was just right in the middle of convenience.  Especially on Saturdays.  It didn’t feel like we could have a chill morning, then go for breakfast, and maybe catch a matinee show without feel rushed.  Come 2009 that won’t be the case.

Come 2009, I can pursue some things Andrea and I have been talking about.  Come 2009 I can focus on my wife, my personal career, and of course God.  In 2009 I will be a 1 (almost) job man.  So, while this may be crushing financially, it will be anything but in most other aspects of my life.

God is good.

Is there something that gets you out of bed each morning?  A quote, a song, a person or a thought?

Share with us.  OH, and.. share why.

GO

We are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside… but one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that mean and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed.  True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a better.  It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved.  We are called to be the Good Samaritan, but after you lift so many people out of the ditch you start to ask, maybe the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“A Time to Break the Silence” Sermon

The more I think about my life and my faith, I am more and more convinced that this isn’t what He meant.  The more I think that there is more to this than donating money to the Salvation Army.  I am not bashing these charities, they do great things, and I recognize that.  But, I wonder why we have set up these establishments to pacify the poor?

Dr. King put it so gracefully, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a better.  It comes to see that a system that produces beggars needs to be repaved.”  The poor are sick and tired, the middle class is sick and tired, the rich are sick and tired.  So what are we doing right?  Working 50+ hours a week, to buy that new ring, and make the C-note?  To pay the gas, or to get the water turned back on?  To flip a quarter to a poor man to feel good about ourselves, and so the poor man might get something to drink?  The road is broken.  Who are we to rebuild?

What I’m saying is, change doesn’t start in the Oval Office. (Sorry B.O)  Change starts right here, with you and me.  What are we called to?  As Shane Claiborne put it, when we get to Heaven, I’m not so sure Jesus will say, ‘When I was hungry, you gave to a food kitchen, and they fed me, when I was naked, you gave to Salvation Army, and they clothed me.’

Do you get it?  What are we doing to the least of these?  Who are the Least of these?  Is our annual donation/tax write off good enough?  Does that fulfill your heart?  Not mine.  Old christian cultures used to say, if they didn’t have enough for even the poor to eat, everyone in the community would fast until they had enough food to go around.  How long would we be fasting?  Geez.  I don’t want to think about it.

What I do want to think about is the light of hope.  The light WE are called to shine on this world.  Not this country, but the entire world.  The Mexicans and the Somalians.  We have a responsibility to the least of His children.  What can we do?  Surely we can at least feed them and cloth them, right?