A Trip to Sam's Club Part 2 - God is watching us, and so is everyone else (Repost)

Just a quick note before today's post - Billy Coffey posted The Ten Dollar Challenge on his blog yesterday. If you haven't had a chance to, would you hop over there and read it? We're still working out the details, but there will be an opportunity for everyone who would like to participate to link their blogs both here and on What I Learned Today.

(To read Part One, go here: A Trip to Sam's Club).

Have you ever been shopping at a large store and see the same shopper or shoppers numerous times in the course of your trip? I had been in Sam's for maybe 5 minutes when I noticed a good looking young father with 2 young children. I suppose I noticed him because I typically don't see men shopping with their kids and without their wives (with the notable exception of 7:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve). He also caught my attention because he was wearing a graphic t-shirt that said "Redeemed" and was sporting a faux-hawk. Here I am shopping for communion cups and looking forward to church the next day. Did that help form a presumption about this guy? I don't know. But I remember thinking to myself, "I bet he's a youth pastor or a worship leader."

The next time I saw him and his kids, he was patiently telling his cute and talkative 5 year old daughter that she could not get any cookies on this trip. "Yeah, he's definitely in ministry -- he's so sweet to his kids!" I saw them once more before I was ready to check out. I pulled my cart up to one of maybe seven open registers, and guess who pulls up behind me in line? You guessed it -- Mr. Fauxhawk. At this point, I'm feeling some connection with this little family -- what with us all being Christians and whatnot. I attempted to start a conversation with him a couple of times (no doubt impressing him by my keen observational skills in surmising that he was, in fact, a pastor of some sort), but by this time his kids were getting tired and beginning to complain a bit. He wasn't quite as sweet, but his patience was still in check. I decided to leave him alone.

So here's where it gets weird. I'm out in the parking lot loading up my groceries, when directly across the aisle from me I spot the same sweet little threesome getting into their car (with a Christian sticker on the back windshield). "Okay, God", I thought, "am I supposed to go introduce myself to them or what?" I began to approach the car as dad was attempting to buckle his kids up in their car seats. What I heard next literally stopped me in my tracks. Had I been two aisle over instead of just a few feet away, I still would have heard this young father screaming at his son, "Get your G** D*** legs in the car!" I'm guessing that if he had looked up at that moment and seen my jaw hanging open, he might have ended his tirade. Unfortunately for his kids, he did not. After slamming the door on his son's side, he walked over to the daughter's side and could only manage a closed mouth, guttural scream before slamming her door. He got behind the wheel and took off quickly. At this point, I am still standing behind my jeep, jaw open and head spinning. "How could I have been so wrong about this guy? He's obviously not in ministry!"

But maybe he is. Maybe he was just having an extraordinarily bad day. Maybe his wife walked out on him and his kids. Not that there's any excuse for screaming obscenities at you kids. You just don't do that -- ever. Having experienced that little scenario firsthand on numerous occasions, let me just tell you: YOU NEVER WANT TO DO THAT. It terrifies them. It rocks their world. Don't ever do that.

I sat in my car for several minutes, ignoring the melting frozen items in the back and just prayed. I think a more accurate analogy would be that I was pleading with God to protect the children, convict the father and make things right.

Maybe this guy was in ministry, maybe not. He certainly looked the part. But he certainly served as a big object lesson for me.

Lesson 1: Since my pastor is also a close friend, I actually thought that I had overcome my tendency to put ministers on a high pedestals. Clearly I have some work to do. Our pastors and teachers ARE held to a higher standard -- that's biblical. But they are human. Even if you attend church every Sunday, chances are that you have no idea what a minister and his staff deal with every other day of the week: infidelity, broken marriages, abuse, neglect, addictions, church politics, illness, death, grief, money issues - the list goes on and on. It's only by the Grace of God and their faith that they don't become completely overwhelmed by it all. Sadly, many do and succumb to the same temptations the rest of us struggle with. Others simply walk away from the ministry.

Lesson 2: If you are a Christian, the world will judge you by what you do more than what you do not do; not by what you say or what you profess. Like Vince Antonucci says, "We've got to be the good news before we share the good news. Otherwise, the message has no integrity." (I'm paraphrasing, forgive me if that's not an exact quote.) You can rattle off Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and tell someone how Jesus saved you from the burning pits of hell, but if you get in your car and then cut them off in traffic, not only are you an a**hole, but you may have just added to the legions of people who turn away from God because of the people who claim to serve Him.

My heart goes out

Yes, my pastor and friend, the lovely and talented Jeff Hogan pretty much oozes creativity. We brainstormed the concept for this video a few years back. It was filmed at a local bagel shop owned by members of our church and starring the youth group, one of the youth sponsors (the pretty lady sitting in the corner), and Jason - smart Alec and drummer extraordinaire.

How often do we miss opportunities? Not necessarily to witness with a blanket "If you die tomorrow, do you know where you're going?", or some stupid, obnoxious tract used in lieu of actually having to speak to someone. I mean, how often do we miss the chance to just share the joy and peace that enters our lives when we surrender to Jesus? If you're like me, not often enough...



My Heart Goes Out (Warren Barfield)
She sat a table away
Staring into space in her own little world
And I saw a tear in her eye
Like a window to the mind of a frightened little girl

She never said a word
But I know I clearly heard
A cry for help
And I wanted to answer
I wanted to tell her

My heart goes out to you
You don't even know me
You don't even know
Oh, my heart goes out to you
And I don't know what else to do
To reach you now, my heart goes out

But I'm still glued to my chair
She's unaware, there's little time
And though my intentions are good
If I'm misunderstood, the price could be high

I can't fix whatever's wrong
But if I fail to pass along
Someone cares
Price couldn't be greater
And this can't wait till later

My heart goes out to you
You don't even know me
You don't even know
And my heart goes out to you
And I don't know what else to do
To reach you now, my heart goes out, yeah

For God has loved the world so much
He send His only son from heaven to earth
Well, there's a distance love covered
She's just a table over
All she needs is a shoulder

My heart goes out to you
You don't even know me
You don't even know
Oh, my heart goes out
Lord, help me do what I can do
To reach her, to reach her

Oh, my heart goes out to you
You don't even know me
You don't even know
Oh, my heart goes out to you
Let me do what I can do to reach you now
My heart goes out, yeah

Why I'm okay with being obnoxious

This is a picture of my childhood friend, Karen and me at our 20th high school reunion. Do you want to know what I enjoyed about that night? That I was able to enjoy being there without being nervous about whether or not some wildly elaborate made up story about my life would hold up under scrutiny. I figured out a long time ago that I am a very square peg surrounded by round holes. Trying to fit into those holes simply wore me down and slowly chipped away at the person I was meant to be.

That is not to say that I am completely satisfied with every aspect of me. I am always striving to become the person God wants me to be. But God, not someone else's ideal picture of what a 43 year old wife and mother of two is supposed to be.

That's why I'm okay with being obnoxious. Some of you might be wondering if "katdish" is some sort of persona that has been created that allows me to say things that I might not otherwise have the guts to say as myself. Let me clear that up for you. This is me. Warts, monkey butts and all. Those of you who know me in real life can attest to this. Jon Acuff paid me a great left handed compliment at Catalyst One Day in Atlanta earlier this year. He said, "You're not obnoxious, you're just from Texas." Thanks, Jon. I big red monkey butt heart you, too.

I'm not smart enough to keep up with more than one personality. Besides, I think doing that drains your soul and robs you of a valuable witness to the power of God's grace - for the sinner and the saint. And for the record, you ain't no saint! (Please, no theological arguments here, you know what I mean.)

Sometimes I say things that should probably have been left unsaid. But in the non-cyber world, I have my husband and friends who love me enough to tell me to shut up. In the blogosphere, I have a handful of good friends that will do the same. (You know who you are.)

I'm totally okay with someone not liking me. I think caring more about what people think and less about what God thinks is a horrible, wretched way to live. Now here's a newsflash, if you don't like me, there's a pretty good chance I don't like you either. But that's okay. God calls us to love one another. He never said anything about like. Just as long as we're not walking around with giant planks in our eyes, I'm cool with that.

This much I know is true. While I am a product of genetics and life experiences, the essence of me has remained much the same as it was when I was a silly, talkative, klutzy little girl who found herself in the spotlight more often for misbehaving than behaving. If you cannot fathom how that silly little girl might allow God to witness for Him, then you don't get me. Which is okay. You don't have to.

The following statement is intended for those who need to hear it. Clearly, some of you grasped this concept a long time ago. But I offer it anyway:

May I be so bold as to offer some advice? Stop trying so hard to keep up appearances. Accept that you are broken. Even if, like me, you have been smashed with a hammer. God's light often shines brightest through the broken vessel. I for one, will love you for it.

God? He loves you, regardless. His love was poured out for you at Calvary. He doesn't need you. But He desires your abiding love with all of His heart.

How cool is that?

A Trip to Sam's Club, Part 2: God is watching us, and so is everyone else.

I'm really bad about having "Part Ones" without any "Part Twos", so I'm attempting to redeem myself to you, gentle reader, by finishing a two part series. When I sat down to write A Trip to Sam's Club initially, I had no intention of writing about paper towels, toilet paper, the church plant, communion cups and Morgan Freeman. To tell you the truth, that's pretty typical. That's just how my mind works. I just hang on and try to keep up most of the time. But I really wanted to follow up on a particular experience I had while shopping at Sam's because it forced me to reconsider many assumptions and presumptions that I suspect many of us make on a regular basis.

Have you ever been shopping at a large store and see the same shopper or shoppers numerous times in the course of your trip? I had been in Sam's for maybe 5 minutes when I noticed a good looking young father with 2 young children. I suppose I noticed him because I typically don't see men shopping with their kids and without their wives (with the notable exception of 7:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve). He also caught my attention because he was wearing a graphic t-shirt that said "Redeemed" and was sporting a faux-hawk. Here I am shopping for communion cups and looking forward to church the next day. Did that help form a presumption about this guy? I don't know. But I remember thinking to myself, "I bet he's a youth pastor or a worship leader." The next time I saw him and his kids, he was patiently telling his cute and talkative 5 year old daughter that she could not get any cookies on this trip. "Yeah, he's definitely in ministry -- he's so sweet to his kids!" I saw them once more before I was ready to check out. I pulled my cart up to one of maybe seven open registers, and guess who pulls up behind me in line? You guessed it -- Mr. Fauxhawk. At this point, I'm feeling some connection with this little family -- what with us all being Christians and whatnot. I attempted to start a conversation with him a couple of times (no doubt impressing him by my keen observational skills in surmising that he was, in fact, a pastor of some sort), but by this time his kids were getting tired and beginning to complain a bit. He wasn't quite as sweet, but his patience was still in check. I decided to leave him alone.

So here's where it gets weird. I'm out in the parking lot loading up my groceries, when directly across the aisle from me I spot the same sweet little threesome getting into their car (with a Christian sticker on the back windshield). "Okay, God", I thought, "am I supposed to go introduce myself to them or what?" I began to approach the car as dad was attempting to buckle his kids up in their car seats. What I heard next literally stopped me in my tracks. Had I been two aisle over instead of just a few feet away, I still would have heard this young father screaming at his son, "Get your G** D*** legs in the car!" I'm guessing that if he had looked up at that moment and seen my jaw hanging open, he might have ended his tirade. Unfortunately for his kids, he did not. After slamming the door on his son's side, he walked over to the daughter's side and could only manage a closed mouth, guttural scream before slamming her door. He got behind the wheel and took off quickly. At this point, I am still standing behind my jeep, jaw open and head spinning. "How could I have been so wrong about this guy? He's obviously not in ministry!"

But maybe he is. Maybe he was just having an extraordinarily bad day. Maybe his wife walked out on him and his kids. Not that there's any excuse for screaming obscenities at you kids. You just don't do that -- ever. Having experienced that little scenario firsthand on numerous occasions, let me just tell you: YOU NEVER WANT TO DO THAT. It terrifies them. It rocks their world. Don't ever do that. I sat in my car for several minutes, ignoring the melting frozen items in the back and just prayed. I think a more accurate analogy would be that I was pleading with God to protect the children, convict the father and make things right.

Maybe this guy was in ministry, maybe not. He certainly looked the part. But he certainly served as a big object lesson for me.

Lesson 1: Since my pastor is also a close friend, I actually thought that I had overcome my tendency to put ministers on a high pedestals. Clearly I have some work to do. Our pastors and teachers ARE held to a higher standard -- that's biblical. But they are human. Even if you attend church every Sunday, chances are that you have no idea what a minister and his staff deal with every other day of the week: infidelity, broken marriages, abuse, neglect, addictions, church politics, illness, death, grief, money issues - the list goes on and on. It's only by the Grace of God and their faith that they don't become completely overwhelmed by it all. Sadly, many do and succumb to the same temptations the rest of us struggle with. Others simply walk away from the ministry.

Lesson 2: If you are a Christian, the world will judge you by what you do more than what you do not do; not by what you say or what you profess. Like Vince Antonucci says, "We've got to be the good news before we share the good news. Otherwise, the message has no integrity." (I'm paraphrasing, forgive me if that's not an exact quote.) You can rattle off Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and tell someone how Jesus saved you from the burning pits of hell, but if you get in your car and then cut them off in traffic, not only are you an a**hole, but you may have just added to the legions of people who turn away from God because of the people who claim to serve Him.