Nothing can overcome but love

I've been off the writing circuit for quite awhile now.  I seem to have less to say these days but not really.  There is so much to say.  We live in perilous times and the world is not going to get better.  Evil is pervasive and the media leads with stories that have no hope.  But in reality what hope do we have?  Is a new president going to save us?  Would winning the lottery make the world a better place?  Could you find peace in that long sought after perfect relationship?

You can't.  You won't find what you need in a bottle or a needle.  It doesn't get sold at the local convenience store.  Hope is available and peace is attainable, but the truth is that often we don't want to pay the price.  Both come at the cost of following God, in an era where following God is not cool.  

But let's face it, we don't even fully understand what it means to be God followers.  If you watch the news being a christian might mean you say you are one.  Or it might be that you are a gun toting, anti abortion activist who wants a wall built around the nation.   You might be portrayed as someone who is ignorant or uninformed.  At the very basic level being a christian has become synonymous with being intolerant.  And well maybe they aren't so far off - all these media portrayals.  After all do we really even remember what it means to be a God follower?  Or do we just spend time telling everyone else they are wrong and we have the sole ownership of the truth?

Oops some of you almost stopped reading there.  Being the sole owner of the truth is foundational to your faith.  Your way or the highway, right.  One way to God and only one way...the way you came correct?  Except that isn't how God works.  He is personal.  There are millions of paths because there are millions of people.  He knows them all.  He wants to be in relationship with everyone of them.  And well let's face it we are suppose to be part of what draws them into His presence.  But who would want to hang out with someone who was always telling them how wrong they are?  Who wants friends who judge them as lacking and look down from their ivory towered churches to say "clean up and come in but don't dare set foot in OUR house without cleaning up."

Have you looked in the mirror lately?  You should, you are probably dirty and grungy.  You might have some sin of anger or lust or pride smeared all over your face.  It might not show up like  the sin of alcoholism or an alternative lifestyle but do you think it is any more or less disgusting to God?  It isn't.  He doesn't call us to be perfect - you do know that right.  He calls us to be forgiven.  He calls us to love.  "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his brother."  So what are you doing to lay down your life for your brother?  For me, I'm loving him, even though he used to be my sister.  For me, I'm encouraging him to seek wholeness and peace with those around him.  For me, I'm having hard conversations about what it means to be born without the privilege of my white skin in a world where skin color matters.  For me, I'm hugging my police officers and veterans and letting them know God and I see their struggles.  For me, I'm trying to raise my children to exist side by side with other faiths so that maybe one day, they can be share that Jesus died so that their friends can find everlasting life in His arms.  I am hopefully loving the world as fiercely as God loves me.  I am practicing invitation, accepting His, and offering them to others.  God's love is fierce and all I am called to do is share it just are fiercely to the world.