Weird By Any Other Name

I don't follow current movies and I could count the actresses and actors I know on one hand.

I don't know the popular bands and singers.

And, just for the record, I don't drink coffee.

Many people call me weird. Other people make the biggest fuss you can imagine about how "sheltered" I am. I have even been told that I don't know how to have "real" fun. (If you believe that, you have forgotten that I count pinecone throwing among of my skills.)

I don't generally enjoy being painted with a description like "weird." I mean, after all, most people don't mean it as a compliment. Besides, I feel like a perfectly normal human being.

I forget sometimes how different I really am...how that because of the redeeming blood of Christ, I am a new creature! I have a new family, a new citizenship, a new purpose, a new ruling passion, a new set of rules to live by, and the hope of a new body!! There's no getting around it. I am different. And, what people frequently notice first, I act differently.

People in the world with whom I rub shoulders tend to noice the small "lines of conflict" between my life and their own. Things like...I don't drink. I don't flirt. I don't party. And, incidentally, I haven't kept track of the latest celebrities and rock bands. These people don't understand me, and so they describe me mentally with that useful catch-all word: "weird."

Lately, after giving it some thought, I have begun to see the value of the description. Maybe I shouldn't be so uncomfortable about it after all. As I recall the life of Jesus I realize how different He was from His own culture. Maybe they didn't call Him "weird," but that doesn't mean they weren't thinking it.

Yes...Jesus was different from His world. And living a life that is dedicated to following Him means that I must live differently from my world.

Best of all, standing upon the platform of my "different life," the Lord gives me opportunities to obey Him by proclaiming His Name to the world. There is a Savior like no other who can give them not only a different life, but a different end! I can tell you about Him!

Meanwhile, I'd be glad if you would think of me as "weird."

Disclaimer: I am not anti-movie, anti-acting, or anti music. =)
Claimer: I am anti-coffee. =)