My God

My God.  No, not OMG.  Literally, my God.  Do you know Him?  Due to a recent online "run in" with one of my Sisters In Christ, I was inspired to tell you about Him.

I barely know this woman who sent me an email stating that we as Christians should be more judgmental.  Now, I don't know if whoever is reading this is a Christian or not.  But either way, you are probably aware that we Christians have a reputation for being very judgmental.  The article she sent said, "We are told to tolerate the religious thinking of non-Christians, because every religion has an element of truth to it, and because salvation is not exclusively for Christians. We must also tolerate in our churches the sinful actions of others. It is not our business if an unmarried couple lives together! It is none of our business if a member of our congregation practices homosexuality! We must not judge them." The whole article is about how wrong this is...society tells us these things and we, as Christians, must stand up and judge those that would do such things. It also says, "We must cater to the whims and wishes of the feminists" as one of those bad things society is telling us. I replied asking her to please not send me these emails anymore and that it was offensive. Her response back? "The Bible says a lot of things that men find difficult to swallow." Implying, if not saying outright, that I just can't handle the truth.

Riled up, I started to rant on Facebook, as did some of my friends, also Christian. But I decided that wasn't a good venue for such a thing. Plus I have too much to say and it just won't fit on Facebook!

So here I am to tell you about my God. My Jesus. I am not going to throw scriptures at you. You have heard them all before. Taken out of context, you can find one to support any point of view. I am going to tell you about who He is to ME.

First, here is where I find Him, what He looks like:

I saw Him in the places above: Mexico, Hatteras Island, Smoky Mountains.  I see Him in my children and the rest of my family.  I see Him in the pictures of the faces of people Brad and Lainie met in Haiti.  I see Him in the face of a sweet, tiny baby in the church nursery who was born addicted to drugs.

I feel Him, too.  In the hugs from Brad and the girls.  In the kisses from my doggies.  At times I have felt Him so strongly, it was like a physical presence.  Like when tons of people in the church I grew up in laid their hands on my Mom in prayer before her breast cancer surgery.  Like when our then-minister prayed for me before some surgery of my own.  When a group of wonderful people surrounded my niece and prayed before removing her life support, letting her go.  I feel Him at almost every church service I attend at Kensington.  Enough that I cry there on a regular basis.  His presence overwhelms me!

This God of mine is full of grace, forgiveness, understanding.  He doesn't judge me and I don't believe He wants me to judge others.  People might make choices that I wouldn't make.  But that doesn't make me better than they are.  God forgives everyone, that is the best part!  My God is all about the LOVE.  He wouldn't want me to use my faith as a weapon against others.  He doesn't want me to preach hate, no matter the circumstances.  

I will pray for this woman, pray that maybe someday she can know MY God.