Contradictions and Neutering

Hope you like my title for this entry! I realized that I had two complete opposite things I wanted to convey to my faithful readers, and I wasn't sure it was possible to do it smoothly.

So I'll start with the second half....my dog is finally FIXED!! Hip hip hooray for us, not so much for him. I will have to include a picture of his pathetic little head in his "lampshade" in the next few days. Yep, that's right, he's a neutered boy now...is he still a boy? Cause I'm guessin' that "neutered" and "neutral" come from the same latin root or something. But in any case, we should see some good fruit come of this. And if we don't ....well let's just say some well-deserving person will be gaining a 20 month old jug in the near future. I cannot even go into it all here...it would just be another "woe is me" story and be complaining. But, ladies, I tell you...when you imagine the poster dog for "bad dog" just imagine our Copper. He is still sniffing poor Kendall and Kara ALOT...but seems to be way less "interested" in them, if you know what I mean. The "marking" of his territory on everything cornered or that he deems worthy seems to also be way less so far. Let's hope he sticks to that.

Now for the more serious side to this entry... On the way to taking Copper to his surgery on Thursday, I was sitting at a light coming out of our neighborhood, when I noticed the cute little lime green VW bug idling in front of me. My thoughts of "what a cute little car" quickly turned sour when I read it's solo bumper sticker : "I Like Your Christ. I do NOT like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." Wham! I was provoked to reflection. What had this young lady driver seen of Christians to warrant such a statement? It's not like I don't know there are people who feel strongly that we are all a bunch of hypocrites. Sadly, often we are more known for what we are against than what we are for. But as my husband said, when I shared this statement with him, "She's missed the whole point. We are sinners. Christ was/is not." And for me to take offense at this statment is proof of that! Instead of immediate compassion, I felt anger. That's probably exactly what she's talking about. But, the fact is, in "not liking" Christians, she really doesn't like Christ either. We are his bride. We are his children. We reflect his glory. Jesus tells us that just as the world hated him, so it will hate us also. I don't think there'd be alot of "liking" of Christ if he were walking the earth here and now. Just as there wasn't in his days on the earth. His words bring conviction, not compromise. He came to "cause the rising and falling of many," not make the world a more peaceful, unified place to live. Sinners either repented or cringed when he came to town. Of course our presence in the world is not what is should be. We are a sinful people in need of grace. I think most Christians who are true disciples are aware of that. But the fact is, we are directly opposed to most of what the world wears, watches, says, and does. It should be like that. We should stand out. We should not make the world more comfortable with sin. Love yes. Condone no. My temptation is to hide who I am, to hide my Christian identity, when it comes to "keeping up a relationship" with someone. When talking with my neighbors, instead of being forthwright about my reliance on God through prayer and leaning on His faithfulness, I try to water-down my words so they won't sound "preachy." I am secretly afraid they will think I'm weird and cult-ish if I speak about my life the way I would around my church family. We were challenged on this at the "Proclaim" course this past summer. How am I doing with it? Maybe slightly better. I need the Lord to make me "bold as a lion." All for his glory. And not think that trying to improve someone's opinion of me is the goal. Fearing God over fearing man.