I will take a grande cup of hate with a side order of embarrassment

Being called out is never fun. I was extremely timid in middle school. I rarely brushed my hair, had braces and thick wire framed glasses. I was not much to look at. Once class started I shut up and kept my head down. I had a teacher in middle school for enriched 7^th grade math, she hated me.

This teacher would make me feel awful on a weekly basis, it must have been part of her curriculum. One day we were working on math that I didn’t understand. All of a sudden, she calls my name, “JOE!” (She never called me Joel). I look up disappointed and startled. she says, “What’s the answer to question 4 JOE!” I replied, “I am not sure, I couldn’t figure it out.” She lays into me, C’MON JOE! YOU GOT TO UNDERSTAND THIS STUFF SOMETIME IF YOU WANT TO MOVE ON IN LIFE!” She then calls on my friend David, she loved David. DAVID! HELP JOE OUT!” My friend sitting next to me stated he couldn’t figure it out either, but she loved David. “Oh really? It’s alright David let’s go over problem 4 as a group.” WHAT!!!!! David sitting right next to me under his breathe laughs and said, “If you didn’t know the teacher hated you before, you do now!” 7^th grade math was tough for me. Being called out is not fun but sometimes can be necessary as we see from Paul.

Paul in Galatians 3:1-2 (MSG) lays into the people…

“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.

Paul calls out this group of people, they stopped caring about Jesus and tried to go back and focus more on the Law. This was the old way of thinking and not caring about Jesus. Paul basically calls them crazy and possessed. Clearly they weren’t thinking straight. Christ redeemed us so we don’t have to focus on the sacrifices, burnt offerings and the old way. Christ brought a new hope. Yet people were still wrapped into their traditions and how they used to do faith. They couldn’t grasp the grace of Jesus and were happy with the old way they felt comfortable with. The old way didn’t bring people to faith. It separated those who came from a religious background and those with no faith background. Paul called them out on it and it was greatly justified.

Being called out leaves us with a couple of different reactions. Just today a player talked about how the team they played yesterday wasn’t that good and was overrated. The problem with this player, they just lost to this “overrated” team 24-3. Hopefully he realizes what he said today. When someone calls you out, how do you respond? Whether in faith (Bad theology), health (eating better) or in your opinion in a hot topic button, do you listen and internalize or just right them off? Sometimes being called out isn’t a bad thing.

You can be broken and not know it.  Being called out can cause the greatest change in our life. We have to be humble enough to realize we are not perfect and have issues. I ran into a person that played a key role in me coming to faith, it was a couple of years since I have seen him. I asked how he was and where was his wife? He responded good and we are divorced now, it just wasn’t fun so we moved on. Wow! It wasn’t fun and within two years this faithful follower of Christ was done with his marriage. It was crushing. I used to work with an awesome guy and those who knew him knew he had a drinking problem (It cost him his job where I worked under him). I ran into him and asked how he was and the family? He said, oh man, I needed to get divorced, to many issues with that girl. It was crushing. His wife was amazing and this means he turned his back on his wife and 3 year old daughter.

Paul called out people that needed to be called out on. What do you need to be called out on? I had some blood work done and was told I needed to starting eating better or I could suffer for it. Sometimes we all need the awake up that Paul gave. What do you need to be told about? What needs to change in your life? You can change without being called out on. Make the change to make you better.

Have a great day.

High School Cafeteria, where would you sit?

I remember going into the high school cafeteria my freshman year and having know idea who I was going to sit with. In elementary school I attended Maplewood, 98 percent of the school went to Gardner for middle school, I went to Dwight Rich. Now I am going to Everett and 98 percent of people went to Sexton. Once again I found myself in an uncomfortable position, seeing a room full of people and not knowing a soul. What was I going to do?

I was not outgoing enough then to sit and strike up a conversation with anyone instead I was quiet and reserved. Finally I had a glimmer of hope, I find my friends David and Joseph. We weren’t extremely close, but we were still friends. They had a group of people they were already sitting beside and I went up and asked if I could sit with them. Even with new friends and family around them, they invited and allowed me to sit with them. I am thankful for that. Honestly, I would have felt so uncomfortable to sit with strangers as a freshman in high school just like I did with middle school.

Being left out is never fun. It’s worse when you are the one left out. Faith in Jesus is supposed to unite people, rich/poor, black/white/Asian or whatever cultural background you come from. Yet people had to deal with a lunch room situation in Galatians 2:11-21. Certain Christian came from a Jewish background while others came from a Gentile background (No faith). Paul comes up to a situation in which certain people were sitting with only their group of people and not associating themselves with other people.

Yet Paul wouldn’t just watch this happen, Galatians 2:14:15…

“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul wouldn’t allow separation to occur among Christians. He called them out in front of the whole group. Jesus died for us and therefore the past is in the past and we are moving forward together because of Jesus. This is why I love the Paul and the Gospel, it’s not about us. Even though it happen, the church should be free of clique’s. Paul address this. We as believers in Christ are called to come together, unite with one another and be a blessing to other people. I love the church, as messed up as it can be sometimes (We are all sinners). There is no other place that can bring people together for one common goal and it’s not like a country club, it’s a place for everyone.

I cherish my friends Joseph and David. I am thankful for their friendship when we were younger and I love being able to keep up with these guys on social media. When you look at your own life, do you separate yourself from others? Do you cause division or bring people closer together? Jesus brought a ton of different people together and living for him requires us to do the same.

Have a great day.