I talked to Ryl about Interhigh and Christianity in general. She told me about her father who was a minister, but left her and her three brothers and mother for another family. She talked about how, when she met him again after so many years, she felt that he was still selfish, didn’t ask her about her life at all, and had never before bothered to contact her. She told me how, at his death, his other children and his congregation thought he was so great and awesome and how she couldn’t see that because he was so selfish. I tried to let her see that Interhigh was about trying to stop that, that ideally, Christianity is not that. We talked about practicing as key.
She said that she really appreciated the times when I just asked her how she was, just a simple question, that made her feel cared for when she had surgery and the doctor screwed up and she couldn’t eat. She talked about how Jn, though a Christian, an “upstanding young man,” and who goes to the same church as I do, didn’t ever ask her how she was and how she always had to ask first. She was saying how, even though he is Christian he didn’t ask, and how others, not Christian, did.
She had just a misconception of Christianity that it was hard to tackle then. But luckily, I think I got her to separate Christian ideals with Christians themselves, because Christian ideals represent God and Jesus. Christians, though we try to be like Jesus, are still sinful and weak. I think she had this idea that Christianity was some moral law that people followed. But in fact, at its core, it’s not a belief of morals, it’s a belief of the wickedness and failure of mankind in the light of a loving, gracious God. Christians are weak, hypocritical, unfriendly, mean, etc. because we are human. Yet despite that, we are loved, forgiven, accepted and we try, try, try to do what we can because of the God who is the light and goodness in us, and allows us to be able to even begin to be good.
She thought that Christianity is about forgiveness no matter what which allows you to do whatever you want, which again is another misconception. But she needed to go home and I needed to work. But she seemed genuinely interested in Interhigh and wanted to hear a lot about it. On Monday, I hope to show her more about real Christianity and open her heart to it. God, please help Ryl to see You and know truth. Let not her father’s actions and life block her from the Gospel. And what little I can do for her, I pray You multiply. I know You can and will. May I and Jn and Ala be people of blessing in her life, who can show her the light of the Savior, Your light Lord. Amen.
I guess, it really goes to show you, how much people expect from Christians. How the world labels us and expects something from us. Stereotypes us, really. Judges us more harshly, more cynically. And I thought how hard that must be to accept if you're looking into Christianity and maybe thinking about it. Like, why would you want to be labeled in this way?
But, it's a label I joyfully carry. I think we're all going to be labeled in one way or another; I accept the label as a Christian and all that comes with it. I'm going to do my best, as much as I can, to properly represent this label of mine, which is more than a label to me: it's an identity. It's who I am.
And another thing, going back to this blog post, even a simple question of, "How are you today Ryl?" can really make an impact. Sometimes your smallest actions speak the loudest.
She said that she really appreciated the times when I just asked her how she was, just a simple question, that made her feel cared for when she had surgery and the doctor screwed up and she couldn’t eat. She talked about how Jn, though a Christian, an “upstanding young man,” and who goes to the same church as I do, didn’t ever ask her how she was and how she always had to ask first. She was saying how, even though he is Christian he didn’t ask, and how others, not Christian, did.
She had just a misconception of Christianity that it was hard to tackle then. But luckily, I think I got her to separate Christian ideals with Christians themselves, because Christian ideals represent God and Jesus. Christians, though we try to be like Jesus, are still sinful and weak. I think she had this idea that Christianity was some moral law that people followed. But in fact, at its core, it’s not a belief of morals, it’s a belief of the wickedness and failure of mankind in the light of a loving, gracious God. Christians are weak, hypocritical, unfriendly, mean, etc. because we are human. Yet despite that, we are loved, forgiven, accepted and we try, try, try to do what we can because of the God who is the light and goodness in us, and allows us to be able to even begin to be good.
She thought that Christianity is about forgiveness no matter what which allows you to do whatever you want, which again is another misconception. But she needed to go home and I needed to work. But she seemed genuinely interested in Interhigh and wanted to hear a lot about it. On Monday, I hope to show her more about real Christianity and open her heart to it. God, please help Ryl to see You and know truth. Let not her father’s actions and life block her from the Gospel. And what little I can do for her, I pray You multiply. I know You can and will. May I and Jn and Ala be people of blessing in her life, who can show her the light of the Savior, Your light Lord. Amen.
I guess, it really goes to show you, how much people expect from Christians. How the world labels us and expects something from us. Stereotypes us, really. Judges us more harshly, more cynically. And I thought how hard that must be to accept if you're looking into Christianity and maybe thinking about it. Like, why would you want to be labeled in this way?
But, it's a label I joyfully carry. I think we're all going to be labeled in one way or another; I accept the label as a Christian and all that comes with it. I'm going to do my best, as much as I can, to properly represent this label of mine, which is more than a label to me: it's an identity. It's who I am.
And another thing, going back to this blog post, even a simple question of, "How are you today Ryl?" can really make an impact. Sometimes your smallest actions speak the loudest.
1 comment:
Perfect post. You put things into words so eloquently.. I might repost parts of this on my blog if it's okay. You make me question my actions /nonactions. Okay, enough of the sentimental praising. Phooey.
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