The Cynic

I was sitting in the coffee house last night trying to focus on the topic at hand "Taming a Liger: Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite" which should have been quite interesting-- sure maybe a little far fetched-- but come-on... it's Napoleon Dynamite-- but I was quite distracted. Sure, I was tired.. a long weekend can do that to ya.. but I my attention was also quite diverted. Have you ever made a phonecall and accidentally crossed into someone else's conversation? That's how I felt. Let me explain..
Most every Sunday evening I get together with a group of eighteen to twenty somethings at a local coffee shop to discuss things that rattle our brains a bit and just be in Christian community with one another (it's great.. especially when you are out in the real working world and start to wonder if there is anyone your age left who isn't married off or have just run out of town) Anyway.. I digress... so.. we meet every week at a local coffee house... great atmosphere to talk openly about whatever. So last night the gal that was serving us coffee-- lots of tattoos and peircings... yeah-- you could tell somewhere along the lines she had been burned by the church. As I was standing in line to get something to drink, she asks the gal in front of me "so. why did you start going to church?" And she wasn't about to settle for some lame religious excuse.
It really got me thinking... how would I answer if she would have asked me? Sometimes I think as Christians we get stuck on all these religious "talking-points" that just don't make a lot of sense to the rest of the world that has no moral foundation on which to put those arguments. It just sounds like a whole bunch of fluf to them with no depth. I admit, I've grown lazy in my defenses... and sometimes because of this when I am faced with people questioning my faith I just don't know how to answer with responses that don't make me sound judgmental and just another one of those "crazy right-wing-fanatics" *sigh* how would YOU answer? It's frustrating that it takes something like this to show me how much I still don't get or understand, but sometimes it's the only way-- God has to wack me across the head to get my attention. And boy did He ever with the coffee shop gal...
She just seemed to be so critical towards Christians... at one point she told someone that she was a "professional sinner" and that we were really missing out on the fun. During our discussion time she sat in the back of the room with her boyfriend and just railed on Christians in general and when someone would make a comment she would comment right back. When we were talking about how we could help others- she was just like "Look at them trying to be all self righteous and stuff." Yeah.. that is where I got the crossed-wires telephone thing... I was sitting right at the back so I could hear it all.
You know.. I wasn't mad at her at all... I could tell she was hurt... I don't even know her situation... but something broke in me and I wanted to love her like God loves her.... after our discussion time was over I went up and talked to her. There was a lot I COULD have said... I could have tried to "set her straight" or challenged her views... but that could have drove another nail in her "I hate Christians" coffin... instead I just talked to her.. took interest in her tattoos-- I am an artist afterall-- and even though I might never get one done myself doesn't mean I can't appreciate other peoples "living artwork". She was very open and talkative and I could tell that her defenses were down. Maybe I didn't get her to change her mind about Christians or God that night, but it doesn't really matter... I can't get anyone to change their mind about God anyway.. that's His job. But I can love people like Jesus loves them.. and I hope that is what I did.