“You know who you remind me of? You remind me of a young woman who was martyred…Joan of Arc,” said Dennis Wainstock.
Okay, let’s back up. I decided to take a late lunch at work today, so I could drive on home after I was finished. I wanted to eat somewhere that was about 30 minutes away from the court house I work at, and I was thinking maybe Panera, or even Chinese. But then, I felt that still small voice asking me to go to Starbucks.
I mean…I LOVE Starbucks…but today I just was not feeling it. I didn’t want to go for what ever reason, but I felt like the Holy Spirit was leading me there. I then heard, “There’s someone that will be there that I want you to speak with.”
So, well, I went to Starbucks.
I ordered a Turkey Rustico Panini, a Gingerbread flavored…piece…of..bread?, and a Tall Skinny Peppermint Mocha (I know you were just dying to hear the dirty details on what I ordered) and then went and sat down.
I didn’t feel led to talk to anyone yet, so I decided to get out my computer. I felt the urge to start writing a blog on here…which wasn’t this one, and then a gentleman that was sitting parallel to me asked me if I was writing a novel. I laughed and said no, and began explaining to him why I was blogging and about the World Race.
His name is Dennis Wainstock, he’s a historian, and he teaches at the local university. He was actually working on writing a novel about Martin Luther King Jr. at Starbucks.
He was so excited to hear about a young person going to travel the world, but was worried that I wasn’t ready to deal with the cultural differences I would experience. He questioned me on several things about religion, and so on and so forth. My answers to basically everything was that I’m in love with Jesus. I just want the world know that they don’t have to feel lost and broken and alone, that Jesus loves them. That Jesus saved me from my miserable self. That I’m not perfect and Jesus is the one that helps me. That my heart breaks for people that most Christians are afraid to reach. That I want to listen to people and not force feed them religion. To share the good news of the gospel.
He asked me several times if I believe that there is another way to Heaven besides Jesus, and I kept saying that there was not another way. The Bible is clear, and I will always take God’s truth on something no matter what. Jesus is the only way.
Well, come to find out, this gentleman is Jewish. He is frustrated with most Christians in America because they are narcissistic and depersonalize everyone that doesn’t have the same mind set as them.
And it’s sad, but that’s the truth. I used to be like that. I saw the world through my own selfish eyes, and I figure in some areas I still do. But the more I get to know Jesus, the more the scales fall off my eyes.
Anyways-back to the topic.
He said that he admired that I stuck with my faith. He, for what ever reason, was so surprised that I looked up to Martin Luther King Jr., that I wasn’t a hardcore conservative Republican, that I actually took time to listen to him and his feelings, that I didn’t shut him up and smack him in the face with the Bible. Dennis looked at me and said, “You know who you remind me of? You remind me of a young woman who was martyred…Joan of Arc. She almost decided to give up her faith, but she didn’t. And she knew she would be burned at the stake, and eventually she was.”
Wow. I’ve never been compared to Joan before, and that was quite humbling. I’ve always admired her courage and passion.
But the thing is guys, if we are a representation of Jesus…if we are truly in love with Him…that should be a normal thing to hear. But sadly, it’s not. Most people think of Christians as people who shut sinners out and curse them to Hell, with out ever listening to their heart. With out ever seeing them as souls that JESUS died for.
Like Dennis. He expected me to be close minded. He expected me not to care. He expected me to stick up my nose and basically have the “I don’t care what you say, I’m better than you because my religion is right and you are wrong. You’re going to Hell.”
We talked about everything from America, to Martin Luther King Jr., to World War II, to the different denominations, to my testimony, to His experiences with Christians, about political parties…just a lot of things.
He was surprised that I actually cared about what he had to say. That I was sincere in how I talked about my love for Jesus. He was also intrigued by my testimony and my willingness to say that I am a far cry from perfect.
I’m sorry guys, but that’s sad. If we are supposed to be Jesus’ hands and feet on the earth, it should be normal for us to listen to someone. I’m not saying to accept what they have to say as truth, but if they are saying something to you, it’s important to them. If we shut them down, how do we EVER expect for them to listen to us?
Jesus was not indifferent to people that didn’t believe the same as He did. He met them where they were at, listened to them, loved them and took them out of that place of sin.
The people Jesus was usually more stern with were the disciples, the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were filled with an incredibly unhealthy dose of pride. The only way to show compassion to them was being brutally honest to deflate their ego. Jesus would have been doing them a great disservice if He tried to pet their heads and baby them.
Jesus had to do that with me. I had good girl pride issues. It hurt, but my gosh, I’m so thankful!
Again, I am not saying condone their sin. I’m not saying to white wash their sin. I’m saying, LOVE THEM. Share the truth in LOVE. Listen to their HEART! We love, because Jesus first loved us…when we were horrible to Him! He sacrificed His life for us while we were mocking Him, He prayed that we would find and seek forgiveness because He looked at us in compassion and saw we really didn’t know what we were doing. If we are supposed to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, the world should know us by our love. By HIS love!
1 John 4:19-21
“We, though, are going to love-love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, ‘I love God,’ and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.”
Sorry if this blog was all over the place, but I just felt like sharing and encouraging you all to remember the man that we are supposed to be in love with and devoted to…and how we all are called to live like Him!
Love you guys! Thanks for reading! 🙂
