what are we against, what are we for?

I get so furious with Christians. I was just now on facebook, that wonderful waste of time, and there is a group called "boycott the Golden Compass." I was thinking about our church in america. When I tell people I am a Christian, immediately I am asked if I hate gay people, or they make a joke about Harry Potter or they tell me about someone they know that couldn't go to church anymore because they were not liked at church. I see lines of people that show up in droves to protest abortions, or to protest gay marriage. I hear reports on the news of Christians that will not let their children go to such and such, or to listen to such and such, and I just wonder all the time, why do they only know us by what we are against?
Shouldn't it be that people would know us by what we are for? Didn't Jesus say that they would know us by our love, shouldn't people think when they hear that you are a Christian think, those people are really about helping people, those people are for love, those people do a lot of good? That is in no way to say we are a people of mere moralism, but as of now, we are only a negative people, only seeking to let everyone know what they shouldn't do. Isn't there a better way? I think so. I think sometimes we need to learn to pick our battles, that is just common sense, something else severely lacking in our nation.
What can we do? We have a lot of work to do, we must get going and start showing the world what we are for, and that is human rights, the love of our neighbor, and taking care of God's world.

Entitlement

I think probably one of the most destructive attitudes in the United States today is that of entitlement. You cannot walk down the street without running into someone that thinks they deserve better than what they have. We cannot abide to live in less than luxury, so we spend more money than we have on cars, clothes and furnishings. We live in a way that cannot possibly be supported, and we think that all of this is everyone's fault but our own.
I have to wonder what that attitude says to God. What does that attitude say to those who live on less than a dollar a day? What does that attitude say to our parents and grandparents who sacrificed so much so that we could live such trite lives? We live completely stressed out because we buy things that we can't pay for, then we get used to that lifestyle and have to buy more crap we can't afford and we are caught in an ever deepening trench of debt and greed. It has to end somewhere. If we don't get our crap together, if we don't realize that we are not entitled to live like those shallow imitations of humanity we see on tv, we are destined to get exactly what we want. We will sacrifice friendship, family, good health, integrity; all at the altar of getting what they have. We will give away our humanity simply to have whatever we want now, and it just is not worth it. I hope people will wake up soon, realize they don't need everything at the store, they don't need a new BMW, people have survived, even thrived on much less. Maybe we will all be a lot better if our country goes broke, at least then we will be able to focus on what really matters.

Going Home

50th and Barnes. Penn. MacArthur. 23rd and Drexel. 36th and May. I used to know these streets. I used to drive them and walk them daily. In fact, it was rare for me to be anywhere but them. They used to be home.
The first year of college I would go there and it was still home. I would travel those streets like I was just there yesterday. The storefronts were familiar, the phone rang off the hook with people wanting to hang out. Everything there was home then. Things began to change, gradually. "Home" got more fuzzy. I couldn't remember the streets as well, people didn't call as much, no one knew if I came home, something, at some point, changed.
Now home is Forrester, Martin Luther King Drive, Lakeshore. I am not an integral part of any community, but merely a nameless face in the crowd most days. Everything has changed. I don't go home to Oklahoma City anymore, I go visit family, and a couple friends. I still consider myself an Okie, because it is almost unbearable to consider myself a Texan, but in reality, my prime years have all come in Texas. I graduated college, will soon, God willing, graduate seminary, I was married here. I preached my first sermon, and ate at P.F. Changs for the first time here. My wife is a Texan, so there is a certain affinity there, soon we will both be Colorado(-ans?). Things change, and that is a hard realization, but I feel very fortunate to have a few people in my life that, though they change and grow and mature, will be there.
I realize that instead of identifying myself by Barnes, or Lakeshore, or Forrester, or Austin, I can identify myself with Robin, and Grant, and Abby and Ginnie and Roberta and Desiree and Tyler, Erin and Bethany, Chris and Casey. People are what matters and what is comfortable, what is lovely and worth living for. I am so blessed to have been the places I have been, but those places only matter because of the people there. Soon the places I know now will be the past, but I can pray and hope that the people I love will still be where I am and that will make it home.