Serving a Sex Offender

It’s interesting how relationships change when we find out the dirtiest part of someone. I have a customer who comes in everyday at Starbucks. They get the same drink and pastry, we have extensive conversations on the day or our week, and we talk about things we have in common (i.e. music). The other day, somebody told me that this customer was a sex offender. I didn’t write them off, but I did wonder. Am I supposed to treat them differently? As a Christian, I’ve come up with the answer of no.

I look to the thief on the cross and I remember that we don’t know his crime or what he did, and Jesus treated him no differently than the other guy mocking him on the other side. I think that this is a challenge that faces us as Christ followers, is accepting the person (that clich’e of loving the sinner and hating the sin fits well here). Though the crime is utterly repulsive, and they may deserve death in the eyes of society, what are we to do in the eyes of the Kingdom?

I Think I’m Getting Old…

I yell at kids who have no regard for other people. I hate people who don’t “follow the rules”. I laugh when I think about the good old days. I’ve been out of high school for 15 years. I have a mortgage payment, 2 cars, and a kid…and we talk about upgrading to a bigger house. I get mad on the Fourth of July when people throw their garbage from their fireworks in my dumpster. I wake up at 6:30 a.m. with ease. I take naps. I watch the news. My hair is turning gray. I don’t like a lot of the new music that comes out these days. I have a 401k (now a 200.5k). Two Words: crows feet. I refer to people as “My _____” (i.e. my lawyer, my real estate agent, my whatever-it-is-that-I-pay-them-to-do).  I hurt myself and don’t recover as quickly as I used to. If I stay up past midnight, I’m usually a wreck the next day. If I drink more than two glasses of wine, I feel sick. I drink wine. I miss all of the bad things I used to do, but I don’t do it because my body probably can’t handle it.

yeah. I’m getting old.

I’ve Come To A Realization…

Last night on American Idol, Adam Lambert killed it with this song:

This is the only song that my dad knows on guitar. Seriously, I remember going to parties with my parents, he would play guitar, and this was the only song he played. My realization that I’ve come to? This is the only “good” memory that I have of my dad. I have some daddy issues (wasn’t good enough, neglected, came from a single parent home, etc.). Cynthia pointed this out to me when I told her the story of this song and my dad. She was talking about how it was sad that I don’t really have good memories of my dad.

I wrote about it before, but man, I am glad that I learned to love and trust God as my father…