We are far more similar than different.

the above pictures i took on our last road trip. the good ol' midwest. i must have some country blood in me because i LOVE huge white clouds on top of acres of green land, or miles of corn and farmland. and by country blood i mean i love the space, the land, the fresh air, and the nature.

i met a guy today that i was introduced to beforehand as a christian. i had no expectations for meeting him. however once i met him i quickly realized his words did not seem very 'christian' to me. now, i never expect ANYone i ever meet to be perfect. but i also think some people want to claim to be 'christian' without actually acting like any sense of the word and what it was intended to be.  this adult man said rude things about some middle school kids he knew that were on a wrestling team, he called his co-worker "crazy sarah" and questioned her upcoming baptism. he mentioned growing up around bible study groups and attending various christian camps growing up... but what does that all add up to in the end?  true, he is working to try and help young people and i have to commend him on that.  BUT, could he not be more conscious of the words he says?  could he not behave more positively in order to match his words and actions to his 'christian' title?

i ask this to you; what do you think when you come across people that claim to be one thing or another? because i think we are conditioned to find a nitch, a group, attach to a label that may describe one part of us or all of us. a lot of these titles tend to separate us when at the end of the day i think most people believe in being a good person and living well regardless of what you do on sunday mornings. now this is where some of the judgments, guilt, and separateness that comes up and forces everyone to choose the group in which they want to follow, or even more difficult to understand (to some) they choose to be a part of the group that does not attend church. at all. can you believe it?  now, would you be up for believing that you who attends church twice a week might have similar beliefs as this other person who attends twice a year? yet your practices are different, but what if you believe similar things?

i get frustrated by closed minded people.  i do not like when someone claims to be something and their actions say the opposite of their 'title'.  i fear some people will look at those with the 'titles' and their lack of compassion, honesty, and goodness and expect everyone with some sort of faith to be the same. it just isn't so.  i get frustrated by people claiming to be christian, accepting and loving, yet they have a list of certain type of people they will not interact with, therefore proving the very opposite.

side note, i do know several christians that act very closely to their beliefs and bottom line, they are good people doing their very best and that is important to think about too.

this is something we could talk about for days, that is if you were up for discussing it. seriously though, can we just admit that we are much more alike than separate? and regardless how we got here, we are here. and we are here together... might as well work together, eh?

peace.