What is the Bible About?

Two Different Encounters

I met two different people today. Very different people, but people that I believe were made by the same God, and in his image. People that God loves and people that God calls me to love and care for.

However the first person was really easy to love and the second was not.

The first person was a boy who was 4 and a half. He had a friend who was 5 and a quarter. And I was quickly told that the first boy would be 5 and a quarter in January. I was walking Rowdy and they wanted to pet her. So I knelt down and we chatted for a few minutes. He told me about his dog at home who was going to Heaven soon and how he doesn't like it when dogs lick his face. I also learned that there was yet another dog near the playground who liked to sniff poo. But they decided that Rowdy probably didn't like doing that because she had a pink leash, which meant she was a girl and they both knew that girls think poo is disgusting.

The second one interrupted my coffee date with a friend. We had spent some time catching up and then were spending time quietly reading. I had seen him walking down the street earlier, and he walked up and loudly exclaimed that it must be Bible reading day since my friend was reading the Bible and so was another guy inside. He went inside and came back out a minute later with a beer in his hand and asked if he could join us at our table. We agreed, but only because it was the polite thing to do.

We started to engage in some small talk with him after it was evident that our quiet study was over. We were California natives, he was from Liverpool. We were married, he was divorced. We worked in the school system, he was a chemist. He made drugs. All kinds of drugs. Any drug we wanted.

"Do you do drugs?" he asked us.

"No."

"C'mon, be honest. What drugs?"

"Really, nothing stronger than an Advil."

"Well, I've done all the drugs. All of them except heroin."

Then he proceeded to tell us about the different drugs he has taken, including a mystery one from a "chick on the asphalt" outside a strip club ("The Gold Club in the city, you been there?").

The whole time I had Biblical teachings rushing through my head. Love him. What does he need? Jesus commands us to care for the least of all people. How do I show him Christ's love? What do I say that isn't judgmental?

But I also had other thoughts zooming around too. This guy is crazy. He is talking really loudly. Everyone is watching to see how we will react. What do I say to make him go away?

Our conversation ended when he went inside to look for his painting. And while he was gone, we had some further interactions with people who had shared the patio and earshot with us.

And although maybe...maybe I could make a case that we were protecting ourselves by being closed to him earlier, I cannot say that I am proud of how I acted when he was gone. I rolled my eyes and made a joke about how another group of girls should get rid of their extra chair at their table. I fit myself back into earthly things. Making myself higher and those around me lower. Building myself up and shunning those who are different.

I was exactly who I didn't want to be. James puts it this way:

"What good is it my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."