Existing over here

- The guy whose computer screen you can see at the start is looking up “what to do if a dog has rabies”

- The unbroken wall of hydroflasks in front of the teacher’s podium

- Good Mythical Morning poster

- Inexplicable “NO TALKING DURING RAZOR LOVE” sign

- The guy next to the videographer just has the letters “WBOEOADRS” in giant font on his computer screen

- The teacher knowing to pause for booing after he mentione Ashe County Middle School

- The kid that yells “I hate them!” enthusiastically

- A sign that says “NO FREAKING” with a picture of two stick figures having sex

- Hand-painted “educasion is overated” poster

- The fact that the class knows to say “standing by” when he tells them to stand by

- The woman literally waiting outside the door to hand over the dog

- The tenderness with which he handles the dog before he announces its imminent demise

I get why you don’t want to believe in God. I get it. You’ve seen the Christians on street corners who are screaming about going to hell.  You’ve seen Christians turn a blind eye. You’ve seen Christians give really crappy answers when you’re hurting. You’ve seen Christians in church ignore the new people. You’ve seen Christians avoid you in the store. You’ve seen Christians be downright hurtful. You’ve seen Christians be just plain mean.

Here’s the thing.

Christians aren’t Christ. I get it. Christians give Christ a bad reputation. I do it. I swear and listen to music and mutter words that would make my grandma and my Jesus blush. I’m mean. I avoid people. I get it. 

I get it. We base our beliefs on what we see. We build our perceptions on our experiences. We base our opinions on what we’ve learned.

If you’ve had a bad experience or 47 bad experiences with Christians, I’m sorry.

This isn’t one of those posts that is going to end with the typical, “we’re all sinners and that’s why Jesus died for us”. although that is true - that’s not the point of this. What I’m saying is that Christians are going to disappoint you. Christians are not always going to represent Christ. Christians are going to hurt you. Christians are going to not look like Christians all of the time.  But are you following a Christian or are you longing to follow Christ?

Are you getting to know Christians and doing things how they do them or are you getting to know who God is and why exactly He sent Jesus? Are you spending your time pouring over Instagram and trying to match your journaling bible designs to the ones you see there? Or are you spending your time pouring over the Bible and trying to match your life to the ones detailed in the stories told there?

What I’m trying to get at is this: Christians will misrepresent God. Christians will mess up, we’ll make mistakes. We’ll say the wrong things. Because we’re not God. We’re not good at being God. We’re good at being humans. We were created as humans, and God is God. God is good at being God. God won’t misrepresent himself. God doesn’t mess up. He doesn’t make mistakes. He doesn’t say the wrong thing. He doesn’t leave. He doesn’t break his promises. He doesn’t let you down. Christians are meant to follow God. Christians are meant to become more like Jesus, not other Christians. 

If you’re skeptical about this whole thing, I get it. But if you’re willing, please seek to learn who God is and not who Christians can make him out to be.

 "If we fight with bo staff, I can defeat them in single combat while still maintaining social distancing,“ says Wayne, apparently not joking.

If that can be filtered out, there shouldn’t be a problem with viruses. There should however be a problem with breathing.