Yes and Amen!

Wow. I saw a link posted on a friend's blog that I had to go and check out. Tammy is a self-described heretic, and one of the most fantastic, thought-provoking, fun-loving, new kind of Jesus freak that I have run into on the blogosphere.
I have been treading water for a long time, wanting to give up and feeling "far" from God in my broken, irritable, depressed and floundering state. I have gained weight, broken out, broken down, contemplated running away, and felt as they say "lower than the belly of a snake". I keep trying to maintain and hold it altogether. I have worried as some would say about my "witness".
Darin Hufford's post at the Free Believer's Network she linked to, titled "Authentic Spirituality"was just what I needed to hear. It was about the smoke and mirrors of our spirituality. The whole post was tremendously affirming of a lot of thoughts I have had over the last several years, but this part leaped off of the page and spoke like a megaphone to my heart:

Being spiritual, in my opinion, is when an individual embraces every facet of their humanity with no apologies, knowing well that their shortcomings are not evidence of God's absence but rather, evidence of life.

Where I am. In the confusion. In the brokenness. In the frustration. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the reality of my present circumstances manifested for others to see, without drawing a veil around it may be in fact a better witness. Things hurt. Life is hard. It is the experience of being human. As Darin describes it, "life on an ass". The picture of Jesus. Not royalty carried around on a pillow, but the hard, bumpy ride of a donkey on unpaved paths and cobblestone sidewalks.
I am blessed with insurmountable humanity.

A Plea to Fellow Believers

Throughout the last several years, I have often been plagued with this thought – as Christians in the world what impact are we making? This goes beyond witnessing to someone to share Christ with them, but even to every transaction we make, every word we say, the attitude we express to our children and spouse, etc. If we hand back the dollar we were overpaid to the cashier – this speaks volumes about our commitment to integrity. If we let someone out in busy traffic – we are living out that we are not just looking out for number one but living out the Biblical mandate to think of others more highly than ourselves. Even if we aren’t evangelistic in how we speak to others , our lives are either a witness to or a mockery of Christ’s love.
My daughter has a new friend. He is a special young man, you can tell this when you first meet him. Some other teens that we have met tell us that he is the VP of the CIA (Christians in Action) club at school. He used to be a leader in the youth group. His spiritual life seems to be in a bit of a slump. His appetites for the things of the world seem to be on the increase. He loves the Lord, and every single time I see him, even though he pulls up playing music that I don’t want my 9 year old to hear, he is wearing a “Christian t-shirt”. The last time he was here, I was asking him why I don’t see him in church. He comes to Sunday school, but he goes directly to work at one of the only local restaurants after that. I told him that stunk – to which he replied, “Yeah. The people who come in after church are our WORST customers.” While the enemy and the world are enticing his heart towards its values, those who profess the name of Christ are pushing him away. Evidently these “Christians” are demanding, rude, picky, and leave poor tips. Yes, we are only human, and everybody has a bad day, but if we are being constantly transformed into His image – these instances should be very few and far between. And what about going back to apologize when you have that occasional "bad day"?
I have been in gatherings where others have acted hateful to our wait-staff, only to turn around and bow their heads over their meal. It smacks of hypocrisy. If you are going to behave badly, don’t wear your “Christian” jewelry, t-shirts or bumper stickers. Just blend in with the homogenous crowd – which is all you are doing anyway – but don’t defame the Name of MY Jesus. Or, decide right now to be different – swim upstream against the flow of the crowd, and you’ll never know what an impact your words and actions may make to a watching world.