Since the VT tragedy, it’s been hard… and reflective. And with Pastor Shawn’s message on the “Good Samaritan”, I felt encouraged to share…
What can we do? In the end, all humans want to be accepted for who we are. Not judged. Even if we have “evolved” to be less “racial”, we as humans will always find things to be prejudiced about, be it social status, intellect, outsider etc…
Well, I wanted to share that though I may not have been a loner, I still identify better with being an outsider. I was never a part of the popular crowd in high school of mainly white population (and no, I’m not being racist in calling Caucasians as white, so don’t get off on it please) in northern New Joisey. I was a nerd back then… Math Team member, chess team member, I didn’t hang out with popular crowd. It wasn’t till college that I discovered that it’s ok to be who God designed me to be, and to accept myself for who I am, and not try to be something that I am not. It was more important in being a child of God first and foremost.
Since then, I have been comfortable in being a nerd or a geek, rarely shriveling from it or trying to deny/hide from it. Instead, as some of you know about it, I have made it a calling and life-long mission to accept people for who they are… and esp. trying to be friend to the friendless and leaving the judgment to God.
I feel no different today than before the VT tragedy. Sure Cho was an extreme case, but who isn’t when people continue to shun others out for one reason or another. If Jesus hadn’t been my friend to an oddball like me, who knows where I would be today?! So I challenge you… no, I beseech you to go past your first impressions of people… and to make that extra effort to be a friend to the friendless…
The last thing I want the church to be is some kind of “social elite club” that Jesus so condemned against.