This past weekend i had the honor of performing a funeral for the grandfather of one of our youth leaders.  This youth leader as well as his grandfather are "good ol' boy's" -  they own and work on a farm with horses and other animals.  They enjoy hunting, fishing, camping and even own a bar and grill in town called "The BUC." So naturally, I fit right in. (If you know me, then you obviously know this is far from the truth.)  Our youth leader's grandfather never attended our church. He was from a Catholic background (I believe many Catholics are saved and going to heaven), and praise the Lord he accepted Christ as his personal savior a few days before he passed.  In fact, this youth leader, his grandson, was able to lead him in the sinner's prayer. 

Those who attended the funeral were diverse, but the majority of them were good ol' boys (or girls) from the surrounding area.  People who worked hard and enjoyed being outdoors and working in it.  Friends and family came up to share stories remembering this man who worked hard on his farm, had an amazing sense of humor, enjoyed playing pranks, and loved his friends and family. Stories were told of how he would always tell the people close to him how much he loved them. It was beautiful. 

I loved hearing these manly, burly, blue collar men who possessed no fear in showing their love for each other.  Then I started to think about the church. Do we love the people in our church? Do we love the lost enough? Do we disregard different skin color, different backgrounds, or maybe different social standings and love others enough? I wondered how often we overlook people or write others off because of the way they look, or the amount of issues they have.  How often have I thought, "that's a lost cause" and not bothered to show them the love of Christ?  We must fulfill what Jesus challenged us with and what scripture speaks to us of in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."  I want my love to OVERFLOW for my brothers and sisters, but also for others.  The word "others" makes me think of loving my neighbors.  When the Pharisees asked Jesus who their neighbor was he told them the story of the Good Samaritan.  So our neighbor is everyone with whom we come in contact.  I really need God's help to show love to all people.

Lately I've been asking God to give me "spiritual eyes" to see what He sees, to hurt for what hurts Him, to reach out to those that He shows me.  For too long I've let my fleshly eyes look at people and see "lost causes" and my prayer is that I would no longer be tempted to think this way.

God loves the the inner city dwellers, the suburbanites, the meatheads (another name for someone who works out a lot, I saw a few of them at the gym this morning), the punk rock princesses, the goths, the homosexuals, the metrosexuals (like me), and the "good ol' boys".

Let's start showing them love too!