This is a re-post. I re-post sometimes when I can’t think of anything to say, or just to make sure there is content here for people, when they swing on by my portion of the internets.

So, here is my post today.  Happy Valentines day.  I love you guys.

Do you know how much He loves you?

I mean, seriously do you know?  I hope not.  I mean, I hope you know that you can never know how much he loves you.  The minute we start to say we grasp that love, I think is the minute that we’ve lost touch.

I read something the other day, that knocked my socks off.  I’ve been in constant amazement ever since I’ve read it.  I’ve constantly been awed by the love that God has for me.  I don’t know if anyone else can tell it but me, (I bet my wife can) But I’ve been just a little bit brighter.  (and I’ve been cussing a little less)  I’ve come to the conc.. no.. the realization that I cannot even begin to fathom the love that Jesus has for me.  That’s OK.  I don’t think we will ever be able to, until we get to the party.

God desires us.  God wants us around, sometimes more than we want to be around.  The story of the Prodigal Son should captivate that.  (I contemplated adding a metaphore, where the earth was the younger son, working with the swine /swine flu, but then in better judgement decided against it) God forgives us.  He doesn’t make us wait, and wonder if we’re being forgiven.  He doesn’t hold it over our heads. He doesn’t say, “I hear you, I’ll E-mail you later and let you know my decision.”  All the things you’ve done in your life to screw up,  God’s over it.  He knows it, but it’s forgiven.  Crazy right? The question is, can you forgive yourself?

We’re not chastised.  We’re not forgotten.  We’re not hated.  We are just a bunch of failures on this earth, who are loved.  Loved more than we can ever imagine.  Our sin was taken up for us, that’s just one of the miracles.  He rose again, defeating death so we can have life!!  (’nuff said)

I pray now, that the moment I think I start to understand his love, that I get knocked off of my high horse.  I pray that I’m kept in awe and wonderment.  I pray that what Jesus has done for me already is enough to never question His love, and to never understand it either.

There is nothing a church or person has to do to make that relevent my friends.  If that gospel isn’t relevent, then something is seriously wrong.

Facebook has been a twitter, er… I guess we need a new phrase.

Point is, Sarah Palin told people to kill people.

Obama said to bring a gun to a knife fight, which, I fully anticipate doing.

Pete Stark won’t pee on my leg, which, well, kinda is a weird thing to say at all.

And George W. Bush said….. something that didn’t make a lot of sense at all.

Anyway. I’m not really writing to write about the crazy right, or the bleeding heart left.  I’m not writing to get into a political debate about Sarah Palin.

Here’s the facts.

People say stupid things.  I know I do.  Do you?  Probably.

So where does that leave us?  Well.  It leaves us, really where it started.  Right?  Be careful what you say.  Someone is looking up to you, learning from you, mimicking you.  They won’t always take your exact advice, sometimes they misinterpret it to the extreme.  Sometimes they’ll ignore it completely.

I’ve been looking to scripture on this subject, especially in light of the recent shootings, and I think it’s been fairly clear on this subject.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

So, in my mind, it doesn’t really matter who said it, or what action came of it. (ie: whether a shooter was driven by a mix of the crazies/politicians.)  We should just be more careful what we say.  If we’re running around talking about glorifying God with our Country, then we probably shouldn’t put cross hairs over a ‘foe’ and tell my 367,000 (+) followers to ‘reload’, and I certainly shouldn’t say in front of a million people that we should bring a gun to a knife fight.

However…
..
.
And this is the big one.

Sarah Palin has said some mean things, and while I do not agree with her politics, and probably most of her religious views, I know I agree with her on one thing.  We serve an awesome God.  One that died for you, me, and her.  a God who forgave me, and all of the awful things I’ve ever done.  A God who I know has already forgiven Sarah Palin for any mean things she’s said, and a God who has not only forgiven but DIED for the shooter himself.  An Awesome God.

I’ve realized, it’s not my place to judge her.

I long for the day where we can remember God in moments like this and not look for a finger to point.  I pray for the day that politics don’t hi-jack every incident and blame the other side.  I long for a difference.  I long for a longing for God that is so powerful, worldly politics do not get me all bent out of shape.

There. I said it.

All over the internet, there is a cry out from Christians.  They are trying to get the message across that not all Christians are burning Qur’ans.  They want everyone to know that it’s not ALL christians that act this way.  These people are radicals.  Somehow, non-believers are taking this one act, and grouping all of us together. 

It’s not fair.

Let’s take that idea a step further.  What if, just pretend, a group of Christian’s hi-jacked some air planes and flew them into a couple of buildings?  I imagine we’d be crying that ten fold.  We’d be shouting out, “Hey! That’s not us!”

You see where I’m going with this?

We are no more responsible for a church in Florida burning some Qur’ans than most of the Muslim population is for the 9/11 attacks. 

“Well, it’s different, burning some Qur’an’s isn’t killing thousands of people.” you might say.  And, you’re correct, kind of.

Here’s the problem.  When people are burning a book, in the name of God, Muslims, Buddhists, and Athiests all over the world are watching.  With this one act, they are deciding that they cannot even think about hearing a message from a God like this.  How could they?  Who would want to follow such an awful, mean, radical God? 

When these people decide that they are not going to hear the message of Jesus Christ, guess what?  You are killing them.  Your act of burning something out of hate, fear, or “God’s Name” could very possibly become a deciding factor in these people’s salvation.  Your act, could be the reason these people will spend an eternity wondering what Heaven is like.

Is this extreme?  I don’t think so.  I know the arguement can be made that these people had their mind made up, or that the Holy Spirit can do anything.  I agree with that statement, but I also believe 100% that it is our job to show people what Love is.  It is our job to soften the hearts of non-believers to be accepting of the Holy Spirit moving in them.  I believe that it is our job to show the Love of Jesus Christ in every action we make.  I believe that, in a whole, we are failing miserably.  My guess is, that more than 2000 people are seeing this and deciding that this “Christian God” is not a God they want anything to do with.  These people are commiting spiritual genocide.

So, today, I want to ask you two things:

1. Rethink your image of a Muslim.  Take what you learned about Muslims from Google, after 9/11, and rethink it.  You may find that not everyone of them is out to kill your family, and destroy America.  You may even find that not even the majority of them have this goal.  You may even find, it’s a small number of them, like the Church in Florida, who happen to make headlines, because good deeds and loving deeds go unmentioned by American media.

2. Pray.  Pray for the Dove World Outreach Center.  Pray that someone would stand up and say, “This is not right.”  Pray that the pastor will hear this.  Pray for the pastor.  Pray for every person who has heard about this, and made up their mind on God.  Pray for the people who are overcome with fear.  Pray for the Muslims.  Pray for your ability to Love your neighbor.  Pray.

There’s a saying that’s tossed around quite a bit lately, on Twitter and Facebook, and it has me doing some serious thinking.

If you’re not offending people, you’re doing something wrong.

On social media, people use this to preach against homosexuality, stay at home dads, working moms, and to use profanity as a way to preach the ‘edgy gospel’.  I’ve often wondered where this comes from.  Where’s the Biblical Truth in this. Surely, with so many pastors using that phrase, it has to be in there somewhere…

Jesus did offend people.  A lot of people.  Jesus offended people by healing on the sabbath.  Jesus offended people by hanging out with lepers, whores and outcasts.  Jesus offended people by saying to love your enemies.  Jesus offended people by not saying it’s ok to stone the adulter.  Jesus offended people by telling them, instead of focusing on everyone else, focus on the plank in your eye.  Jesus was offensive because he cared more about people than he did for the ‘religious laws’.

So.  There you have it.  Jesus was offensive.  He loved people so much it was offensive.  He loved people so much that he couldn’t stone them, so much that he would heal them on the ‘religious day off’.  He loved them so much that he told them the Way to eternal life. 

How does this translate today?  Does it mean we need to post status updates about the extremist muslim that will surely burn in Hell?  The homosexual or the stay at home dad who is worse than a non believer?  I don’t think so.  I don’t think that’s offensive, I think that’s more of the same.  It’s the same hate that this world is filled with.  It doesn’t surprise anyone, and surely, it can’t offend…

How do we live truely ‘offensive’ lives?  I think the only way is to take up our cross daily, shine the light, and love so much that it makes us uncomfortable.  Go out of our way to help and love the sinner.  Become uncomfortable in living a life in closer parrallel to Jesus.  Become more concerned with loving everyone than we are with the Christian laws we’ve laid down over the years.  Jesus did not call us to judge, and we’ve become all too good at that.  Jesus did not call us to tell people they were going to Hell, he called us to tell people they could go to Heaven.  Jesus did not call us to throw stones, beat up, or crucify people.  He called us to love.  Love our friends, love our God, and love our enemies.

Do you really want to offend people?

Drop the rules, drop the show, drop the judgements, drop the regulations and start loving.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading/praying/thinking/talking lately.

The idea of politics mixed with religion has been a hard one for me to break.  I’ve felt, for most of my adult life I’ve had to pick a side.  I have to have an opinion.  If I don’t vote, I’m part of the problem, if I vote wrong, I’m ignorant or uneducated, and it’s my number 1 duty to protect this country, uphold it’s values, and sacrifice anything I can to make sure that nothing bad happens to it.

I have felt like I need to pick left or right.  Pro-war or anti war.  Pro-choice or pro-life.  Obama or Bush. Oil or alternative energy.  Bigger government or smaller government. Immigrant reform or immigrant deportation.

I cannot pick.  I cannot bring myself to divide my thoughts by such an intolerable inconsistent line.  I think that we, all too often, put our faith in our country and citizenship when I think, more than that, I should be focusing on my citizenship in Heaven. (Phil 3:20)  According to Paul, we should be alien to this planet.  We should be so different that people don’t recognize us.  We should be a light in the darkness.

Instead of conforming to a political party, instead of joining the masses, instead of choosing a party, be the light.

I think it’s time for someone to stand up and say that war is just as big a catastrophe as an abortion.  Time for someone to step forward and say you love the Muslim, Mexican and homosexual, despite what the politics in our country have raised you to think.  Despite what you think they believe about you, and despite what you’ve been told about them.

All too often I’ve found myself captivated by the political climate, and putting every ounce of trust and faith into the next bill to pass (or not pass).  The next deployment to keep me safe.  The next election.  From here on out, I plan to listen to Jesus and be very careful to not put my faith, trust, safety, or heart in a world that I am alien to.  I plan to be so alien that people don’t recognize me, and wonder what’s different about me, so I can answer..

The love of Jesus surrounds me with light, in a world that is only darkness.