all at once.

a realization about myself this weekend: it's not 'unlovable' people that i have a hard time loving, it's people who act like they are worth more than those 'unlovables' that i have an incredibly hard time loving.

every christian church reminds you through message, song, etc: Jesus was born, died, and rose on the 3rd day. and He did. but in between there - for so much more time than any of those three bookends in His life - Jesus lived. and what did he do? it's probably pretty important for us to look at this when we claim to 'follow Christ' and 'live like Christ.' it's so convenient that we focus so entirely on the things that He did for us that we could never emulate.

i guarantee you Jesus didn't pick out which people were 'safe' to hang out with. he didn't come to tell us which sins were 'less bad' than others. he definitely didn't give us a license to judge our neighbors and treat them according to our judgment of them. i'm pretty sure Jesus came to love everyone and show us how to do this. why do so many Christians agree that this means shielding our children from the world and their neighbors? from keeping 'a meth head' far away from us? why do so many Christians agree that the 'high moral ground' we ascribe to not only sets us apart - but sets us above? it doesn't. as we've found out so many times from leaders, pastors, marriages - we are all filthy sinners at the end of the day. how dare we pretend we're better even in small ways? it's not until we figure this out that we can really, truly love.

i pose these questions because they are important. thinking for ourselves is important. actually following Jesus' example is important. how does this get so lost so often?

and when the darkness comes, i lie awake
playing lost and found
and all at once, i break my silence
all at once, there's no more hiding
and all he wants is to show us how he feels
.pete yorn.