January 2, 2006

It's happened to me before, on many occasions, but I'm always pleased how God can take a day and make it switch from being completely uneventful to having so much to see Him in that it becomes impossible to be bored.

I went with a couple of friends to a mall today, and we met a shopowner, who upon first meeting, literally spent the better part of five minutes yelling at us for very insignificant things, such as our musical abilities, in the middle of his store, no less. I actually had to turn and walk away, just to make sure I didn't lose my temper or anything.

Shortly thereafter, we approached the same man and had bought a gag gift to try and sell to him to sell in his shop. He was angry at first, but after a few minutes, he finally began to see that we had no ill will towards him at all, but rather that we were just messing with him.

The final time we stopped by the store, he had a smile on his face to see us, and played his harmonica for us to some old blues tunes.

I found here that God can, if you let Him, change ANY situation, and that He can help you to see what a person is truly like, underneath the exterior.

Later on, we spent some time with some friends, both old and new, and simply sat around talking for a few hours.

Within this time, I saw the true meaning of fellowship with other believers, as all among us were Christians, and at all at once some of my views on certain things were altered, or rather enlightened.

I have spent a good majority of my walk with God in the opinion that if anyone dares to drink or smoke or curse, that they can't possibly be serious about their Christianity.

I realize now that there is a line to which there is a certain truth to this, and a certain falsity to this.

If a person is of age, I think that it is ok for them to drink, at this point, christian or not, as long as it doesn't involve getting drunk, which I still believe is not associated with true Christianity.

I think that smoking doesn't affect a person's spirituality either, as long as it doesn't become the idol that it could present itself to be.

Cursing is, probably the most humorous, is the finest line for me. I find that depending on the christian, may or may not be ok, depending on how it affects their walk.

Me, being the boring fellow I am, I think that all of the following are not going to enhance my spirituality at all and so, I don't choose to take part, even in light of my recent realizations.

How often do we attribute a person's external appearance or personality as what they are really like? How often do we leave it to God to show us what a person is really like?