You are standing in the long burger line glaring at the Leave It To Beaver family in front of you.
What is up with them? They are just weird. They smile and laugh.... a lot.
Then theres those two people behind you. They are not much better. They are also completely overdressed for this establishment. They are not smiling, they are too busy glaring and being rude to take the time out to be annoyingly happy like the "Beavers".
Drones. Mindless Drones.
Or so you thought.
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The other side of the fence
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The two fighting behind you just had "one of those nights". You know, the kind where you are still red, puffy eyed in the morning. Which no amount of makeup can ever hope to cover.
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Then theres the "Leave It To Beaver" family on the other side of you. The "smiling ones". How could you forget them? What in the WORLD could be going on in their head?
Turning on head xray vision machine now.....getting it into focus, yep, here it is. Their thoughts.
Man: Sunday...YES, my son is getting baptised today. Well, he is my son now after the adoption last month. Poor kid. Im sure it wasnt easy having a dad who was never around and a mom who used him for a punching bag when life didnt go her way. No wonder he chose to run away and live on the streets. I guess selling his body for money was his way of trying to survive. But man...he was an angry kid because of it all. Didnt, and still really doesnt trust anyone. But it will take time, and healing I guess.
He is a great kid. Im lucky to get to call him son. You should see what he did with a broken radio I had. Not only does it work, but Id even say it works BETTER. Just incredible. On the way over he was singing to a song on the radio when I realized that I might just be sitting to the next big music star here.
Now we are here celebrating. Not my first choice of lunch, but hey. We are after all, celebrating HIS big day, not mine.
I find myself glancing at the young man behind us several times.Wondering if he might be like my son. I wonder what kind of hell he has had to live in up until this point. If I say anything to him he will probably just take it as an insult that I tried to speak to him about Jesus. I dont want to do that. Man I wish I knew what to do though. I can tell he is having a rough day. Poor kid.
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Look, you read this for a reason. Either you have been hurt by someone, or been through something tough, or both. Or maybe you feel like there is more, and you want that, but dont know where to find it or how.
I obviously dont know the thoughts and feelings of all who are in church and all who are not. Each person is their own individual self. There are going to be some who are prejudice jerks on either side of that fence unfortunately. Why? Because we are human. We are imperfect.
But there will also be some who have learned, grown, and matured and are full of compassion, understanding, and acceptance.
If you left church because you got hurt or offended, try again. Find one where you fit. Then stay there. If someone offends you, tell them. Tell God about it. But where you are planted you will flourish. If you keep uprooting yourself it will be like taking a tree and pulling it out of the ground every few weeks and putting it somewhere else. Eventually it will die.
If you are the one reading this who has no idea about God or Jesus and you want to know the simple truth. Here it is. Here are simple facts that I know.
He loves you. Just as you are, right now. You dont have to get yourself cleaned up to become His child. Infact, you could never clean yourself up enough. That is why He sent His Son Jesus to this earth. Jesus never sinned. He only did good. He was without sin. He chose to then take a beating, be persecuted, then be hung by nails through His hands and His feet to a cross. Why? Because someone had to pay the price for all of the sin. So, knowing that. He died for you.
That wasnt the end though. After He paid the price for your sins and died....on the third day, God rose Jesus from the dead. Jesus conquered not only sin and hell, but death itself. This is great news for you.
This insures, that if you are a child of God, if Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then when you die, you will go to Heaven. Not just for a short time, but forever and ever and ever. Thats a long time. Thats eternity.
You see, you are not just a human being. You are a spiritual being. When your body dies, your spirit lives on. It will either be unsaved and go to hell, or be saved and go to Heaven, but make no mistake, it will be one of those two.
God wants you. He desires you. He wants to be your Father. Jesus wants you to be a joint heir with Him and be your Lord and your Savior.
How? Simple as this...
Do you believe what I just told you about Jesus? Because I know Gods Spirit is telling you it is true right now. That is good!
Then pray this to God right now...
God, I believe Jesus is your Son. I believe that He died for my sins. I believe that He rose from the dead and is alive today. God please forgive me of my sins and all the bad things that I have done. Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord. I want to serve you.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Congrats! We are now brothers and sisters in the family of God. Its a big family too!! So if you didnt have one before, dude!!!....you have a HUGE one now.
And there is more. God will never leave you, forsake your, or give you up. Never.
Where to begin? Well, find a bible. Or look up the bible online. Id start in the book of John.
Let me know if you prayed that prayer for the first time, or if you rededicated your life back to God.
Id love to say hi and pray a blessing over your life.
-----Tabitha