Welcome to my world...

I'm a Christian--unabashedly, whole-heartedly. The thing is--that proclamation alone is enough to make a lot of people stop reading this blog without going any further. I think I'll jump right in here. I was talking with two of my students (for the sake of keeping my job in public education, they brought it up) about the movie Jesus Camp. Two very intelligent young adults had been led to believe (by the movie) that all evangelical Christians were like the evangelical Christians in the movie. I haven't seen the movie (I intend to), but I've heard people talking about it. I went to the Jesus Camp website, and after viewing the clips, I can see why two, white, middle-class, West St. Louis County teenagers were using words like brainwashers and freaks (among a few another choice words that I will not repeat) to describe these people.

These two students have had me in class for two and four years. They know me. They know my character. They know how I operate. When I told them I was an evangelical Christian, there was stunned silence. Then the young man stated incredulously, "Reeaally?" That was followed by some brow furrowing and head shaking. I proceeded to explain that not all evangelical Christians were like the ones in the movie. We continued to have a genuine conversation about Christianity. They had a lot of good questions. I had a couple of answers--but we could never have had that conversation if they did not know me by my actions. Don't misunderstand me. I build relationships with people because I enjoy it--not as a tool of manipulation, but because I simply enjoy getting to know people. (By the way, I don't think it's coincidence that I was designed this way.) I think we were all designed to be in relationship with the people around us.

Okay, that's all for now. It's getting late. More tomorrow.