Be Real
I’ve been in Chicago for the past few days. (That’s my niece and I on the right, there! Isn’t she so cute?) I met with the President of our Payroll partner (www.paylocity.com) on Friday and then spent some time with my brother and his family through the weekend. It was a great time. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, just know that my phone got hijacked and my brother thought it would be funny to change my status. It actually was pretty funny, but just know, I’m not moving to Chicago! Anyway, the people in Chicago talk differently than me! A women told me on Saturday that I remind her of my brother, just with a southern accent. If you know me, you know that I am far from having a southern accent. Regardless, to her, I had an accent. AND, to me, everyone up there has an accent! So, as I was traveling, I was paying attention to the differences between Chicago and Atlanta. For example, the roads in Chicago are MUCH bumpier than in Atlanta. The people in lines (at, say, Starbucks) seem to stand really close behind you. Perhaps they’re afraid someone is going to cut in front of them? People drive very slow in the left lane, but everyone seems to be “On a mission” to get somewhere. By the way, why do they have so many tolls? Bottom line, the people who live in Chicago are very different from the people who live in Atlanta. Even though, Atlanta is often considered the “Chicago of the South”!
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about our current economic / political / whatever situation and the Church’s response to it… MY response to it! Our country has been through it’s fair share of difficult times, however, this is the first time I’ve seen or been a part of a time like this. I wrestle with my role in all of this. What do I do? Do I just sit back and hope things work out? Do I worry about my friends and family? Do I help people? Do I fend for myself… Protect my family and let everyone else deal with themselves? Part of me thinks that the people in Washington couldn’t give two rips about what I think or what happens to me and the other part of me doesn’t give a rip about what the people in Washington think. So, what in the world do I do? What is my role? What is YOUR role?
People are people! Whether they’re from Chicago or Atlanta or Baltimore (Hi Matt!) or San Diego or Russia! People are people… We all have different ways of doing things but, at the end of the day, we’re all people and we all long for security… For hope… For SOMETHING to trust in and something to rest in. I don’t have a masters in Theology or a Bible degree or any of that, but in Acts, Paul was talking to some folks about their shrines. He said, “…for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. He is the God who made the world and everything in it.” He goes on to say, “From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him — though he is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist.”
I think the “Church” needs to be real with people! I think the “Church” needs to be authentic with people! We’re all going through struggles, whether we admit it or not. We need to quit trying to give people all the “Answers” and quit trying to sound like we can defend anything and fix all the world’s problems. I believe we need to breath truth and life into people! In this time where people are so diligently searching, not for answers, but for HOPE, we (The Church) needs to share “Hope” with them… With each other! “From one man, he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.” This [all that we're going through] is no secret to Him! “For in Him we live and move and exist.” This is the hope that we need to share. We need to quit debating, quit arguing, quit pointing fingers, quit being frustrated and depressed… We’re all different and we all have different struggles and fears but, we all long for the same thing!
One Comment
Hi back!