Unashamed no more.

At first blush I would look at my life, and comparatively speaking wonder at all the things I am missing out on? I could go into detail and list all the things that I have not yet achieved, but this would be a lie because over the past year, there has been many things that I have done! The question I want to ask myself at this point is "What do you have to do, to be called a man?" Don't feel underappreciated ladies, you can ask yourself the same question. Status and status updates have been the way that I communicated to others how I am feeling, and how I am doing. I am sure you can relate. Just what is on your mind? This question is becoming harder and harder to answer, as I turn 44 this year. Birthdays are a time of great joy for me, I take great pride in turning one year older and I am not ashamed of telling people that.

I don't like to hide my age because I feel that with age comes wisdom and experience. When we flip flop around in life, I really don't think it is our fault as humans. Life can become complicated at times, and that is why I like to believe in grace. Two very important realities in my life right now are grace and compassion. Christianity likes to throw around the word grace, but it has lost it's true meaning over the decades. I don't think that grace can be described like it used to, and that is too bad. I don't think we need to redefine the word, I just think we need to take it more seriously. When God gives us grace, it is a precious gift. Compassion on the other hand must be fought for at times. The church is fighting for doctrine (which is right!) but they also must be fighting for compassion and truth!

Finding the balance is very hard now, and if people are to wake up, it will be their own doing. When someone is asleep, a metaphor for ignorance, we must show them compassion. Finding out what we believe or what the church believes at this point, would just confuse the matter (let me explain.) When we are deceived, or have a mistaken belief about our identity, we don't need people telling us who we are! It just won't help to tell people what the bible says, if 'lets say' they are lacking food! We must feed that hungry person first and then if they are up to it, we can take them to church with us!

Another way of saying it is, compassion comes before grace! When we meet someone who is blind, do we scoff and laugh at them? No, we show them compassion! Anyone in their right mind would agree. So when I am lost in life, or my brother or sister is lost, it doesn't mean that I am lost too. I might have been found many years ago and am just waiting for the opportunity to show someone the way home. This is Mike.

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