For those of you that don't know or are new to my little blog or whatever, I consider myself to be a Christian. HANG ON! Don't hit your Red X just yet. I want to clear a few things up.
When I say Christian I mean it in the way of believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for our sins, I believe in the bible when it tells us that we need to look out for each other and love one another, and that it is not our place to judge, lest we be judged.
I am a Christian who believes that the whole argument/debate about homosexuals being able to get married is ridiculous. That whole part about God wanting us to love and look out for each other applies to EVERYONE fools. Not who you think should get it or what gives you "the willies". I am a Christian who believes that none of us is perfect or better then someone else.
This last Sunday at church, we had a guest speaker give the sermon, it focused on building and tearing down walls, literally and figuritively. The speaker was a young man who is about the same age as me and I have had the pleasure of knowing for a while.
He spoke about a recent trip he took to Mexico with a group to learn about the current status of immigration and that whole mess. He talked about people who live in cardboard boxes with no running water, and who make $3/day yet they save up enough money to make the illegal trip across the border which costs around $2500-$3500.00 and is, now more then ever, dangerous.
He talked about the good-semaritan groups that were set-up in border cities on both sides and the deeds they do. How they are there to look out for immigrants trying to cross into the USA, to look out for them and get them water and medical treatment when neccesary. He told us about the number of deaths that occur in the desert because these people run out of food and water. He talked about a 2 young men who were members of a group that helped these immigrants and one instance when they were transporting some immigrants they came across who were near death, and they got stopped by border patrol and arrested, and now face time in prison as well as heavy fines. Why? Because they were doing the thing that God calls us to do as Christians, to take care and look out for each other.
As a Christian, God calls us to be kind and extend our hand, not build up walls to keep those we don't like out, as a Christian, God calls us to love one another and be happy for our fellow-man, not persecute and judge them because they have been able to find love in a way we don't understand.
As a Chrstian, I am personally hurt each time our current president throws around that word as an excuse or justification for his decisions. Most Christians I know feel the same way.
My local political blogosphere, in which I regularly participate in, has had two posts over the last week in which "Christian behavior" has been called under attack.
I wish that anyone who has ever been offended or disgusted by Christianity had gotten the opportunity to hear the sermon this week. As I sat there and listened to what he had to say, I felt the tears roll down my cheek. I was feeling so many differant things, hope because of the people who were helping, sadness because of the hate that is being brought against so many people, anger at these people's home country for making their situation so bad that they would literally risk their life to come to a country where they would not only be doing hard labor for probably the rest of their life, but probably never get the respect they deserve for being hard workers, and then hope again, because of people like Andy, our speaker, and the other Christians and non-Christians out there who are tearing down these walls of fear, ignorance and hate, we can all look out and love each other.
To me, that is a Christian.
