Life Lessons From Sean

Every time that I begin a blog the first word that I type is "so..." and then I go back and erase it. But that has nothing to do with anything.

Thursday night I was watching the USF football game with my friend at Chilis. We were seated at the bar in front of their beautiful HD television when I heard and could not help but notice the guy that was seated next to me.

Sean looked, talked, and acted like Eminem. Come to find out he was 33 years old (He looked about 25). He had brought his 13 year old daughter to Chilis that night with him to sit at the bar. The funny thing (I should say that one of the many funny things) I realized immediately was that Sean talked to his daughter like I figured that he would talk to one of his buddies. Imagine the most hyper ghetto fabulous white guy hanging out with all his black friends and cracking jokes about everything. This was going on between Sean and his daughter.

I first wrote Sean off as one of the biggest losers probably of all time. I mean, what 33 year old talks like that and dresses like that and especially to his daughter? Although Sean was a loser in my mind...he could make anybody laugh. Pretty much anything he said was hysterical and it was even more funny because of the situation. One of my favorite parts was when he was watching the game and the USF player trucked a Rutgers player and Sean stood up and said:

"Daaaaaaaaaaaamn, that boy coulda killed anybody....dis nigga(as he pointed to me)...dis nigga(as he pointed to the black lady near him)...and even dis huge nigga(pointing to the manager on duty)."

Now thats just funny.

Anyways as we watched the game you couldn't really help but talk to Sean.

Long story short Sean was one of the most honest people I have ever met. He has one of the best relationships with his daughter (even though nothing I could ever say would make you believe that) and even more so had some incredible advice.

My friend and I are both engaged and we started talking to Sean about it. He basically questioned us to see if we really loved our fiances and then told us that he could see it in our eyes and our smile and proceeded to offer some of the best encouragement about marriage I have gotten.

It was all so insane, seriously.

But Sean turned out to be a lot cooler than the loser that I had originally pegged him to be. He was a lot funnier than you could imagine. He was a lot smarter than his attire supposed. He was a lot kinder than his tattoos suggested. And he cared a lot more about people than I did.

Its so odd sometimes the people that God uses to reveal His character through. If I truly believe what I say than I do believe that every person reveals the character of God in some way even if they don't know it or even if they don't want to. If we are made in the image of God than little things like being nice, or making people laugh, or odd people who can look past your stereotypical eyes and still want to talk with you...reveal the heart of God.

Sean is a crazy guy and I'm glad we met.

And I kinda like Eminem for reasons I do not know.

"Your church's target is non-believers therefore it is NOT a church.

This whole notion about churches targeting the un-churched is absurd and unbiblical.

Also, who cares if you guys feed the poor etc. The mormons and the muslims both do that. We will see none of them in heaven because they don't believe the one true faith."

The statement above I read just a moment ago on a website. The website is devoted to tearing down churches and pastors. Of course, the ones who have started the site and who do all the bashing claim to be Christians themselves.

The original post was a church member who was so angry that the pastor of a church didn't preach a typical resurrection message on easter Sunday. The church did have a Good Friday service, but stayed in their series on Sunday morning on how Jesus is involved in the dysfunction in the home. The original post was from an anonymous church member who asked everyone to pray for the church because it was being led astray by the pastor who did not care about the gospel.

Another member of the church responded to this page long rant and explained that he really loved the church and that Jesus had changed a lot of lives through the messages of the pastor and the ministry (feeding the poor) of the church. He was not angry or mean or hateful. He simply stated how God has used the church in a great way in a lot of people's lives.

This obviously sent anonymous over the edge and he HAD to respond and continue to degrade the church by telling them it wasn't a church and all this stupid crap. I posted just a small segment of his response because this is the kind of statement that makes me angry and sad and frustrated at the same time.

His statement about, "who cares if you feed the poor..." totally ridiculous. I would say that the starving kids who got to eat that day care. And I would say that Jesus cares too. I believe that Jesus has been in the process of restoring humanity and redeeming all things from the beginning of time. I think when the Muslims, Mormons, Jews, Christians, and Atheists feed the homeless that Jesus cares because I believe He is involved with all of it.

Nobody will ever agree on how church is supposed to be done. But nobody should ever believe that Jesus is too small to change lives in any setting with any pastor and any sermon or act of service. Every church has something to offer no matter how bad you don't want to believe it. Every person has been gifted by God and can be used by God no matter how much you hate the way they do things.

What would it look like if we spent more time focusing on what churches do well and building on that instead of sitting around wasting our energy talking, blogging, complaining about how bad and how wrong churches do things?

The statement at the beginning of this comes from a person who wants to be right more than they want to see Jesus.

And that makes me sick.

And want to cuss the guy out for being so ignorant.

But I won't.

Connecting in a small(big) way

Today I went into Subway to get a turkey sub w/ honey mustard (fat free) on wheat bread. I am on this journey called getting in shape and it hasn't been too bad actually. I already feel better physically from working out and eating better. But the 3-4 O'clock hunger is pretty intense.

Anyways, I walk into Subway to get my meal, or what I used to call a snack. No chips or even apples...or EVEN soda. Just a sub and water. I am wearing a shirt that I got from my mom that says, "CANCER SUCKS" in huge letters across the front. She got one for me from the hospital in Arizona where she had the surgery. The girl behind the counter (a.k.a. my sandwich artist) asked me if my shirt said anything on the back and I told her no, just that cancer sucks and that was really all it said. She smiled a little and began to make my turkey sandwich and said "I really like that shirt."

She then told me that cancer really did suck and I agreed. I told her I got it from my mom and she told me that her mom also had cancer. She asked some details about my mom and I kind of let her talk. I didn't really want to ask her any questions because she seemed comfortable just talking and I wasn't sure if her mother was still alive. After asking me if I wanted the meal or just the sandwich she kind of sighed and said that she understands how hard that it can be and the last couple years have been rough for their family. She didn't say it trying to make me feel sorry for her, but rather it seemed that she was showing me sympathy. It was a lot more honest and heartfelt than the gentleman at my church that told me, "It's OK Jason, God's got it all under control...there's nothing to worry about."

I disagreed with his assessment.

As I paid for my meal I told her thanks for my meal and the conversation. I ate my sub and as I opened the exit door I looked back because she had smiled and said "Good luck" across the restaurant.

Her and I understand each other. We don't know each other at all really. We might never speak again. But I think she might remember my shirt and remember our short conversation. Maybe she will be reminded that there are others that are experiencing similar situations to her and that she is not as alone as she may think.

It was a great 75 second conversation that I believe Jesus smiled at.