Everybody's weird

I'm reading this book called 'Everybody's Normal Until You Meet Them' by John Ortberg. In short, it is about community and how we are all created to be in community with other believers. His title is referring to how everyone has an 'As Is' tag on, just like sale merchandise. You know there is something wrong with it.. You just have to find it, or accept what it is. We also have 'As Is' tags too. Everyone has faults, weird tendencies, something wrong with us. Some of us are better than hiding it than others. But we all come with the same tag.

The title makes me think about when March rolls around, when captains meet their team of 20 or so students. It's quite a scary and exciting thing, to have this random group of kids under your care for a couple days. I say scary because you never know what you're going to get! Weirdos, loners, sketchy ones, ones with bad breath, smelly ones, etc. But they are yours to take care of and they are part of your team.

Before you get too weary of the challenge of reaching out to people you may not be comfortable reaching out to, remember that you also were an 'as is' item. We all have sin in our lives that make us not so normal. But God redeemed us and gave us value again. He redeemed you. And you were not cheap. God went really far to reach out to you. Psalm 103:12 says, "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." Would you also partner with God to reach out to those on your team?

*rebecca

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There's a site called postsecret.blogspot.com. It's a site where people anonymously send in postcards revealing deep dark secrets. It has helped many who have no one to talk to and just need a way to get things out. Recently, one of the postcards read the following

'I used to make fun of the kids who were different and considered outcasts and now I teach a class full of them. Everyday I go to school, I'm reminded of what a bad person I am.'

Each time I judge someone, label them or write them off as not worth my time, there are ripple effects which I am not aware of. I have this friend whom I used to talk to a lot but every time he opened his mouth, it would be to say something negative. He complains about every single thing and it's like there's an aura of negativity everywhere he goes. I found myself ignoring his messages once in a while and ranting about him to others. I couldn't believe how negative he could be and how much he can take a very seemingly ordinary situation and pick out all the bad points about it.

I caught someone else talking bad about him one day and my natural reaction was to be disgusted that they were gossiping about him. I suddenly realized two things...
1. Regardless of how this friend acts or how right I may be about him, how I react to his negativity is a direct reflection of my character. If I go and gossip about him, it simply shows how prideful and selfish I am.
2. The love of God shines through in the situation when, by His grace, I desire to understand where my friend is coming from rather than jumping to conclusions about him.

Often times, as soon as we see that someone displays a character flaw in a more obvious way than we do, in order to 'protect' ourselves, we expose it to others as much as we can. The ripple effect of these actions is the destruction of the church.

*sam