Straight Up

I am going to tell you straight up, and I hope you don't get weirded out by it, but I don't really care if you do: I'm a follower of Christ. You're thinking one of three things right now: 1.) You're two thumbs up about it, probably because you're a Christian too, 2.) You're somewhat ok with Christians and God and all that jazz, but you're kinda uncomfortable about it, and you probably won't bookmark this blog because you assume that, because I'm a Christian, I'm going to preach at you, slug you over the noggin with a King James Bible and load you up with a good ol' fashion dose of guilt, or 3.) You have your prejudices for several reasons, most likely past experiences when you felt God let you down, and you won't hear what I have to say. 

Hear me out, one at a time:
All the #1's, that's awesome, I hope you're encouraged by my postings and share them with people you think would need those truths.

All the #2's, I'm not going to slug anyone with anything, nor am I going to dish out guilt. That's not God, that's not me, and that's definitely not what I'm going for. You need to know that many people who include the title "Christian" in their persona don't always give God a good rep. Yeah, of course no one's perfect, but I'm talking about the picket-sign pokin' street-corner prophets, or the lunatics who hate in the name of a God that scripture says "is love" (1 John 4:8), or even the "Christians" who live heretically by living the opposite message of the gospel - looking down their noses at people/things they don't approve of, all in the name of God. Plank and speck. But while there's more than enough rotten apples in the bunch, they haven't spoiled the whole barrel. The majority of Christians love people the way God intended, and they want the best for you. I'm one of those Christians, and a lot of what I'll be writing in this blog will point you to the God who is crazy in love with you, not trying to condemn you. I hope you stick around, because what you'll find in this narrative and the resources I point you to can and will bring you a fresh, healthy, vibrant drink of life.

All the #3's, I hear you, and I'm sorry you've been let down in the past. You have to know, though, that God isn't in the business of letting you down. Humans do lots of times, that's for sure; but God's not who you think He is. The God you've been told about, the God you've given a fair shake to and been disappointed by, the God you've blamed for so many personal and world-wide tragedies, He's not absent or negligent - He loves you and wants nothing more than to embrace you. It's hard to put all the pieces together sometimes, but the truth is, if we had the whole picture, we'd become gods in our own minds, insisting we know better than the one who made us. Chances are there's nothing I can say to heal your hurt and confusion, but that's what I'm getting at: God can. It's ironic, but the one you're focusing all your resentment toward, He's the Healer of the broken-hearted, the Clarity for the confused - trust me, I've had to carry some confusion/resentment to God before, and He's cleared it up for me more than once, showing His grace and love was behind it all along.

So that's the long and short of it, I guess what I'm getting at is that no matter what experiences you've had in your life, there's more than meets the eye. I don't have the whole glimpse behind the curtain, but I'll tell you one thing: I'm not going to force anything on you, my dear reader friend. I'm only going to lay out the things I've found to be true and hope you embrace them for what they are: encouragement, sustenance for your inner you, perhaps even remedies. I've known and found many of these through God's leading, so I hope you don't write me off as another cra-cra. 

Like I said yesterday, I'm only one in an ocean of  souls, but I know who sustains me and gives me hope and inner health and peace - and it ain't me. I give credit where credit is due, and I know it belongs to the one who gave me all these things - only Jesus. If a man personally handed me a wealth of treasures and investments, would I credit any other human but that man? No way! Same concept with God; I am not ignorant of who loves me and gave me the things that really matter in life - hope, a future, quality character...He's watering me like a little plant everyday, and this blog is meant to share how He's doing that as explicitly as I can pen, and to encourage you to go for a drink of His water too.

So stick around! I promise you won't regret it, and if you're open to it, I promise you'll get something out of it.