Five percent Christian: the place I found Christ

http://www.city-data.com/county/religion/Santa-Cruz-County-CA.html

 

I have lived in Santa Cruz County, CA, my entire life. This county is home to hundreds of thousands of redwood trees, the most organic Costco in the U.S., the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, is arguably deemed “Surf City”, leads the nation in environmental action, is 16% Republican, is water self-sufficient, and if you’ve ever bought Driscoll strawberries, this is where they’re from. It’s a beautiful little county, perfect for mountain biking, picnicking and surfing year round, music festivals, environmentalism, pot, mudslide adventures, dancing in the streets half naked- and no one batting an eye- and anyone looking to go to or open an organic, locally sourced, coffee shop, burger joint, or ice cream hut. And I love every one of these things about Santa Cruz. You can do almost anything in Santa Cruz, except love Jesus.

 

What does that mean? It means that out of the 275,000 people living in the county, 85,000 are religious. That’s 31%. And only 1/6 of that 31% are evangelical Christian- that is, they believe the Bible is true, that Jesus saves and we can have a personal relationship with him, and that we should tell other people about this. FIVE percent in the county.  This five percent of the population saying they believe in Jesus’ salvation, and that being the only way to spend eternity with God, has changed my life.

 

Like I said, I grew up here in Santa Cruz County. And I am going on the World Race, a Christian mission trip, where in addition to serving in communities overseas, we will be sharing the love of Jesus. Now, me saying this alone has gotten criticism. So let me clarify something. No, we are not going to forcibly convert people’s beliefs and religion. In fact, I think it’s sad that the Christian church has such a vast history in “forcing” others to Christianity, or “civilizing” or “working” people at the excuse of the Bible. I also think it’s sad that this is the reputation of evangelical Christians in the U.S., because some of the people who have questioned this mission have known me my entire life- and I haven’t “forced” them into Christianity. But when I’ve said that I am going on a mission trip, this is the reaction I get. No, we are not forcibly converting anyone! That’s not at all how Jesus works, and that’s not at all what the Bible says to do! Jesus loves every person unconditional of their sins. He bled and died, so that instead of God seeing His creation rebelling against Him, causing pain and destruction in the lives of one another, He sees that we have been redeemed and can be loved, despite our abundant flaws. Jesus loving us is also not an action we choose, because He loves us regardless of the multitude of times we push Him away. Now that’s remarkable. For the God who created every golden petal on a poppy, each snowflake, every unique bird song, each fourteen thousand foot mountain range, barreling wave, toenail, and breath, to love US, even when we completely disregard everything He said will help us to live a more full and beautiful life, is absolutely astounding. It is the ultimate parent-child love, to an even greater degree. God is so unfathomably good. He is love.

 

I’m not here to convince you of that. God does not need someone to defend Him, but He can use us. He can use us to show people that hope of unity and peace and completeness exists, even when we lie, cheat, steal, kill, lose every possession, and hate our choices. He can use people to show others that they are loveable and LOVED, no matter what their circumstances or past mistakes. So here in Santa Cruz, preparing for World Race, it is a daily battle just to defend the idea that I am in fact not homophobic, believe women are lesser, or hateful. I am actually striving to be the absolute opposite of this reputation, and love everyone the way Jesus did, when he lived with the lepers and prostitutes. That’s what all of us going on World Race are going to do; to serve as Jesus served, and loved as Jesus loves, and ultimately live like He lived. Yea, we’re going to mess up and say the wrong thing and not be our best selves at every moment, and disobey God just like everyone else. But I don’t want to keep screening my answer when people ask me what I’m doing this year. God is the reason I’m not going to college next year, and this is a good thing, yet when people ask me what I’m doing after graduation, I’ve found myself screening my answer to avoid the words “missionary” “God” or “Jesus”.

 

This is ridiculous, but I catch myself doing this all the time, based on who I am talking to. I’ll say that next year I am going on a service trip overseas for nine months. I’ll say it’s with a Christian organization. I’ll sometimes even say it’s a mission trip- but after I’ve had to explain what a mission trip is more than five times, it’s discouraging. This isn’t what God wants from me. I’m going on World Race for Him and His glory and His plan. Yes, I love to travel and do not doubt that I will have extraordinary experiences, but if this were my way, I would be going to the best college I could get into and go explore Italy with friends. God is the one who revealed that His plan for me is to have me live out of a backpack and show people with my service how much love and hope is available to us. World Race is the one area of my life, where I can honestly say that God has completely invaded, and I have listened to His path for me. God makes perfect plans for us, and more often than not, I stray from wanting to recognize them, because they aren’t my plans. This disobedience is destructive, and I’ve seen it in my own life. God calls us to share His love and grace and perfection with the far corners of the earth. I hope to be able to show people around the world just a FRACTION of the love God has revealed to me, so that one day, they may be impacted into loving as Jesus loved.

 

Acts 5:42 English Standard Version (ESV)

42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.