Steel Toe Boots and Big Girl Panties

The Milkman doesn't wear steel toe boots. He probably should. He does lots of things that could result in missing or broken toes if they were to go wrong. But he walks miles and miles around the farm every day. We don't have a 4-wheeler or side by side or a mini truck (he wishes) to do the back of the field calf pick-ups. We usually walk to do that stuff. Getting up the cows is a walking event too. So steel toes are not a comfy or light weight option. He has learned to avoid to injuries pretty well (if he breaks one he will blame me for jinxing him with this) by hopping back or moving heavy objects to arm's length or maybe he's just gotten lucky thus far. Anyway...he risks it and when he does drop a rock on his toe he sucks it up and goes on about his farming. This is a lesson and I'm going to illustrate.

I don't mind stepping on toes. It is genetic. As I've mentioned I'm a preacher's daughter. My dad was of the hellfire and brimstone style. He stepped on toes. He preached to the crowd and usually to himself. The thing about a really good preacher is that God lays on their hearts what to say, and as much as God intends for them to teach, He teaches the preacher a few things too. Some people like to go to church and talk about God's love and Heaven. Those are important, don't misunderstand what I'm saying here...but as important as those are today's people need to hear what they don't want to. Today we want to go to church and skirt around what we've been called to do.
     **This is my disclaimer- I will refer to the general rule of Christians as "we" because I fall into this category and if I "offend" you or step on your toes a little (or a lot) know that I'm stepping on my own too.**

God has been working me up to this post. I have ran from it and avoided it and tried shutting it out, but if I don't start listening He WILL get my attention. So here it is.

Are you easily offended? I don't tend to be offended. Being offended is a choice. My dad always taught that. He always said it and he didn't care if it offended anyone. I don't either. If you are easily offended you should know that you have a choice. Don't be offended. You can choose to be resentful, or you can use it as an excuse to pray for someone, or it can be a lesson to yourself or your kids.  If we are in a public place and there is a group around me using bad language in front of my kids I am not offended. I may get irritated and go say something that would cause the Milkman and sometimes the Milkmaids to be embarrassed, but it doesn't offend me. I can say to the girls, "you know that language isn't necessary and it makes you look like an idiot." People are offended by everything. "Merry Christmas" is offensive. What the heck? The Robertson's praying on their TV show is offensive. Really? Is your remote broke? You don't have to watch.

Some people find our government offensive. I don't. I feel a whole lot of things about it, but offended? Nope. I'm not offended by people that call me a murderer because I like a juicy T-bone. Bless their hearts. Most of the time we get offended by someone that is ignorant (adj: lacking knowledge or awareness in general) of whatever they are trying to talk about. Bless their hearts. We need to learn to put on our big girl panties and steel toe boots every morning if we have trouble getting through the day without someone offending us. I'm like the Milkman...I don't wear steel toe boots. I just don't let the world get to me like that.

Well...now is the time for those big girl panties and steel toe boots if you are easily offended.

If you are a non-believer or just not a Christian, I understand. I see what you see. I see hypocritical folks prancing around church on Sunday right after they spent the weekend doing whatever they wanted. I see the eyes that judge in order to feel better about their own Christianity. I see how it's preached and taught in books and then the words actions just don't line up.  I see it and I don't like it. I'll go as far to say that many Christians are judgmental, arrogant, hypocritical, and sometimes downright insufferable. I'll agree. I'll throw myself into that lot at times in my life. I apologize. I can't speak for every single one of us, but I can speak for most of the people I know. It is something that has been passed on and manipulated for years and years. But I want to break that cycle. I want to show the non-believers that I am a sinner saved by grace, but still human, and not a Christian here to be judge and jury.

It is time for God's people to stop picking pieces of the Bible and using them as stones to throw. It is time for us to take a good long look in the mirror. If we are pointing fingers at what everyone else is doing it is probably because we want to take attention away from what we are doing. It's a total misdirect and it is wrong. If we are going to dress up and head into those church doors we need to carry what we learn around all the time. We need to practice what we preach.

God works in ways that we cannot understand. He allows things to happen that we can't understand or explain. He leads people to react certain ways because He is God. Everything isn't ours to understand. We have no business telling people if they are headed to Heaven or Hell. Our business is to teach what the Bible says. To teach the wrongs from the rights. Not to condemn those committing the wrongs because we who have Jesus aren't without sin, our ransom has just been paid. We are supposed to TEACH non-believers how to collect their part of that ransom. We can teach with lesson plans, sermon outlines, books, or words, but the best is with our actions. We need to be acting like Christians in church, out of church, every day and every night. That is not easy. I fail every single day. The good news is that God forgives.

Someone that hasn't been saved could probably view Christianity as a prison with lots of rules. You can't do this, you can't do that, and they see hypocrisy at its finest. The best way I can think of to explain it is that it's like becoming a parent. You could do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted before kids. Then you have a baby and it isn't that you can't do what you want, it's that you don't want to. You want to be a good example for your kids. You want to be with them (most of the time) and teach them. That's how it is...it isn't that you aren't allowed to do certain things, it's that you don't want to. You want to be an example for God. And just like parenting, sometimes you fail. Sometimes you let God down and your kids down, and other Christians down, but you just keep going and hope you didn't screw up someone else's faith.

There's another brick I'd like to drop while our toes are throbbing. Christians have be come so "anti" everything. Lord help us. We are getting our name hijacked by groups like Westboro "baptist" telling people that God hates. We all know that isn't true. God doesn't hate. But when we keep putting out messages of negativity it throws Christian groups right in the same hat as the crazy extremists. Do I think that same sex marriage is a sin? Yes. Do I think God hates people that participate? No. I don't have to go around boycotting places because someone is gay. Do I think infidelity is a sin? Yes. I don't have to stop talking to people because they may have cheated on their spouse. I don't have to like it or condone it, but I have a responsibility to keep being a Christian. God doesn't boycott someone because they haven't found Him yet or because they sin. If He did we would all be in an eternity of trouble, wouldn't we? Some churches have a habit of not welcoming people with a reputation of sin. They don't want "that" kind of person there. Well that is exactly the kind of person that needs to be in church. The kind of person that we are supposed to go out into the world and find and minister to is the same person being turned away. Maybe we don't come out and ask them to leave and not come back, but we treat them like they don't belong. Some churches will ask a member to leave if they don't do the right thing. How is that helpful to God's ministry? Praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ is as important as praying for everyone else.

Belonging to God isn't always easy. We are called to do things that are hard sometimes. Jonah ran from God and ended up in the belly of a whale. God works on my heart sometimes and leads me to do and say things that I don't want to do or say. I usually try to hide from it. Just like this post. It isn't easy putting words down that anyone can read and nobody really wants to hear. But I'm doing it. If one person reads it and God can speak to them with the ramblings I made then I did what I was supposed to do. Sometimes you just gotta put on those big girl panties and do something you don't want to because God has a plan. I'm not good at not knowing the plan. I like to know what's coming and what to expect so I can prepare. If I intend to belong to God I have to let go of that insecurity and let Him lead me. I have to trust that He knows what is coming and will push me where I need to be. With that trust comes leaving the steel toe boots in the closet and choosing the path with twists and turns and falling rocks and blindly following the One that gave everything to pay my ransom. He hasn't steered me wrong yet.