Christianese

I sat by a woman on a plane one time that was obviously very successful.  She shared all about the homes (yes plural) she is re-doing.  In fact, she was flying to her Florida home to pick out paint color and floor decor.  She worked for Starbucks and was a very confident sales executive.  Being the curious type, I stepped further and asked about her family.  This part was a little less rehearsed and I could tell she was struggling with giving me emotional details.  To my delight, she finally shared with me that she was a grandma who adores her grandchildren.  She also confessed that she didn't spend much time with them and preferred working than being around her family.  After an hour or so of conversing like this, I asked her why it was hard for her to tell me about her family.  She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Because you're one of those and I didn't want to hear how God loves me and crap".  I may have made a thump as my jaw hit the floor.  This lady was definitely a hard business woman who tells it like it is, but she was missing the southern charm I'm used to.  I admit, it hurt!  But I had to press on.  "Ma'am, what do you mean 'one of those'"?  She went on to tell me the reason she doesn't stay in one place too long is because she hated the Bible belt where people invited you to church, she hated going down south because everyone is fake, and where her children live, is chaos.  She loathes the terms "God bless you" and "Thank God".  She even confessed she was worried to sit next to me because of my 'christian terms'.  It was the most enlightening conversations I had ever had.  My goal was not to convert her, or even "witness" to her. I honestly wanted to have a nice conversation, and maybe learn something from her.

Did I ever! 

Scripture says, they will know us by our love.  It says NOTHING about how many Bible verses you can quote, or hymns you can recite.  It is by simply LOVING.  (please do not get me wrong, scripture memorization is awesome and so are hymns )...  Why have Christ-followers- disciples- gotten so far from that?!  Why do we have to have memberships, and votes, and quotas?  Where is the bare-bones love that Jesus showed? 

Quite honestly, if I wasn't raised in the belt-buckle of the Bible belt or lived in the Christian bubble my entire life, I would feel the same way as my seat partner.  I would RUN the other direction of those that always say the right things, do the right things and seem to know all the right things to do.  IT would be an automatic turn off. 

My new friend and I swapped business cards.  We have actually had a couple of phone conversations regarding business a couple of times.  I truly respect her.  I sorta envy her.  But I do pray for her!  but most of all I am going to just LOVE her.