Side walk scolder.

So, I was driving home from the bank the other day and I was on Hobson heading towards Washington St.


I was in a line with a couple of other cars that were turning right and we had a green light. There were two side-walkers to my right. They were the classic suburban moms. Both wearing matching sweat suits and walking with their arms swinging violently. These side walkers saw the walk sign and decided to walk even though we had a green light and were trying to turn right.

The car in front of me actually got the brunt of it. While the second women was walking across the street she was waving her arms wildly towards the walk sign and yelling loudly at the car trying to turn. She did this the whole way while crossing the street. I bet you the driver in that car was learning a profound lesson. It was the same lesson I was learning...

People are crazy.

Not only did I learn that lesson but I learned a different one. The reality that none of us really follow the same rules.

Christians seem to forget this and play the crazy side walk scolder. They look at the world through a fundamental moral reality and they forget that other people are following other rules. These other people are usually following the actual rules of the world. These other people are being told to go, even if they are going to hurt themselves or other people, but these rules are the only ones that seem real to them.

The problem is that Christians don't seem to get it. They don't seem to understand that other people are real and that they come from different backgrounds with a different set of rules. So in the end we become the crazy side walk scolder who, along with our other Christian friends, wear the same outfit, and say the same thing but when it comes down to it, we become fanatical and exclusive. We scream and yell and kick just to get our way in this world because we forget that Jesus didn't call us to live in a "Jesus saves" bumper sticker, ABreadCrumb and Fish t-shirt wearing, plastered smile, lifestyle.

Jesus doesn't want you to yell and scream at other people and then throw your arms up pointing them to Him.

We need to stop being side walk scolders. We need to start realizing that we aren't that special, but we are called to preach the good news.

How can it be good news if we are making people feel so bad about it?