Things to think about

“Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” (Isiah 2:5)

We were blessed to live in the San Francisco Bay area for five years for what seems like a million years ago. I rode the train every day like all the commuters, and I worked downtown in the financial district. San Francisco has the oldest Chinatown in our country and is the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. Needless to say, I got to work with some great Chinese people, some great Asian-Americans. One very young Chinese man named Ming Yang would come to the office with a little metal lunch pail. Sometimes I would ask him what his mother had made him for lunch, and he would literally take his chopsticks (no kidding) and explore the container holding his food. After moving the pieces around, looking under and in between he would then explain to me what he was about to eat. He always had white rice, not the fried stuff we get at the local Chinese place with peas and carrots adding a touch of bright color. That very plain rice was always surrounded by some bony pieces of meat. Ming would tell me in his best broken English that he thought it was pork, maybe chicken, and then again maybe fish.

Chinatown was not far from my office and awfully close to the Orvis (fly fishing HQ) store, so there were days I migrated up the hill to shop and take a small detour into Chinatown. The markets would have ducks and chickens hanging up in the windows, heads on, feathers off, waiting for someone to purchase. My point is when I was in Panda Express last week with the Blonde (aka my wife Jennifer) the “Chinese” platter I ordered did not look or smell like anything my Chinese friend brought to work. No beef, no peas, no noodles. Why is that? I went to a funeral not too long ago. The person who died was someone that I loved a lot. The one in charge of the service seemed to reduce following Jesus down to being a good person and working hard all of your life. I don’t know, maybe it’s me, but I think Jesus died for a whole lot more than that - or at least I hope He did. What I’m saying is just like our version of mainstream Chinese food that doesn’t resemble what real Chinese people eat, maybe our version of Christianity doesn’t resemble the version Jesus lived?

What I mean is I’m not sure I see a lot of love, kindness, generosity, forgiveness and joy from folks who claim to know and live for Jesus. I see a lot of grumbling, dis-like of certain groups of people, I see division, I see a lot of criticism. I know more about what the church is against versus what the church is for. What ever happened to love thy neighbor (Mark 12:31)? Who is your neighbor you ask (Luke 10:29)? Ha, Jesus said it was everyone. How often do we have to forgive others (Mark 18:21-22)? As often as they offend us. I think those things resemble following Jesus a little more than just work hard and just be nice. Maybe I’m wrong. I’ve been wrong a few times already this year. Just something to think about. He told me to tell you

that.