You know, as I’m preparing to drive out to Auburn bright and early tomorrow morning to meet the Westboro protestors at Mars Hill, I’m examining my motives pretty carefully. This can’t be about starting a fight. This can’t be about sensationalism. This has to be an honest attempt at discussion from a loving heart, not a judgmental one. Theirs is an approach to mission that I can’t even begin to understand, and even though they may exhale hatred only to inhale it in return, they are still pursuing a conviction and trying to live out a mission, so I have to give them an honest look (no matter what my prejudices might be going in).
For my birthday, one of the gifts that Erin sent me was a framed prayer based on the Jonah story:
Don’t waste your time on fury.
Look for the people around you
who don’t know their right hand
from their left.
Reach out to them. Love them.
That’s the command we’re
supposed to be following.
Leave the judgment to God, who
shows mercy and compassion
beyond anything we can imagine.
Listen and obey when God points
you to Nineveh, and don’t get mad
when God shows them (and us) the
love we don’t deserve.
I’m trying to let this prayer guide me. I’m trying to be careful and make sure that I go out there tomorrow with a loving heart. Who knows? Maybe I’ll meet them and find Nineveh. Then again, maybe I’ll get told I’m going to Hell and walk away from the whole thing with a heavy heart but a funny story.
Peace and Blessings,
Tom
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