There are days where I hate living in a small town. Very few, but they are there. Most of the time, I LOVE it, and I couldnt handle city life, but today, this morning to be exact, I was reminded of why I hate it. I went in to the local convience store and was grabbing some breakfast, I grabbed an orange juice, a chocolate milk, a piece of bacon breakfast pizza, a long john donut, and a package of those small little donuts too. Okay, now that being the only information I have given you, you probably have the same look on your face that the judgmental lady at the counter gave me. But you see, here is what you dont know and what she didnt know either, and had she known, maybe then the opinion she had of me would have changed. My bestfriend here in Sumner is Trista. I have only known her since October, but she is amazing!! She has 6 children and she is a great mom. One of her children had been admitted to the hospital the night before with RSV and Pneumonia, and I was grabbing some of her and her daughters favorites for breakfast this morning to take with me to the hospital. The food on the counter was not for my consumption at all, when this woman looked at me as though I was a fatty mc fatterson that would have been better off with an apple and some oatmeal, it hurt me, as most of the time judgment does.
Later on today, I got a phone call from my daddy who was hurt by comments from some of his friends about me not coming home for Easter. One person even made the comment that somehow I care more about my church than my mother. THIS IS NOT TRUE AT ALL. In fact, being away from my parents for the first time in my life has been one of the hardest things in my life, it has been necessary and I have grown alot, but I miss them SO MUCH! You see, rather than asking my dad or me about why I wasnt home, opinions and judgments were made without any thought at all. I am a youth pastor and at our church the youth do a Sunrise Service and a breakfast on Easter Sunday morning, its a really big deal and as the youth pastor, I needed to be here for my youth group! Also, my bestfriend is having a baby this week, tomorrow to be exact and I have been setting up my visit home so I can see my mommy, my daddy, and the new baby all at the same time!
You see, the point I am making is this, we too many times are so quick to judge that we miss out on some great times to care for and encourage one another. This week, while I have been hurt by judgment, I think back to times where I have done the same thing. Maybe I didnt talk to someone because they were different, or I thought negative things about someone, without knowing their story at all.
During our Easter Service, the youth did 2 great skits. One of them was a human video to the song, "we are the body" by Casting Crowns. The words to this song are a good message for us to hear. Some of the words that stick out to me are, "Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who we like, we are the body of Christ, if we are the Body, then why arent our arms reaching, why arent his hands healing, why arent his words teaching?" In the video the idea is that these people are sitting in church listening to the words, doing the motions, singing the songs, but when people in need come into the house of God and need love and care, they are judgmental, they are hurtful, and these people end up leaving, without ever hearing the message of Christ, because the actions of the people got in the way of the love of Christ.
I think sometimes, we are this same way, but if we are truly rooted in Christ and we say we are his people, we need to act as the Body of Christ, no judgment, no gossip, not hurting one another, but rather spurring one another on in love and encouragement.
Christ died on the cross for each of us. He loves us very much, with a love we cant even fathom, but if we truly love him and desire to serve him, our lives should reflect it,our hearts should be rid of this judgmental attitude entirely and replaced with Gods love and grace. I am going to try and live this way this week, and for weeks, months, and years to come, and I invite you to come and do the same. Lets do this thing together. Lets vow this week to put others before ourselves, and if we can do it for a week, we can do it for 2 and if we can do it for 2 we can do it for 3 and so on. The life that God has asked us to live, is not one that we are asked to live alone, in fact, God feels that is the worst thing, for us to be alone, its Biblical and the whole reason he created eve. So, lets start living this life together, making sure no one has to go through this thing alone.
As the song says, in High School Musical, I know cheesy, but you should expect this from me by now :) " Were all in this together"!!!
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