The Q Part 2

“So, when did you become a Christian?”

I think that’s a generational question. I have surveyed a few friends and their response was similar to mine, a puzzled look. Or perhaps the crowed I run with is just part of that fringe Christian group that really hasn’t been saved.

No, I think it’s generational, or perhaps associated with societal differences. Where you were raised, how you were raised has as great an influence on the way you approach things as when you were raised.

I admit that I’m not the stereotypical Christian. I enjoy a good beer. I have some very questionable friends. The words that I speak are at times not for all audiences and are occasionally critical and I can get full of myself. But what is a stereotypical Christian?

I think the image of Christians today has been formed by those who really don’t know the whole story. That’s usually how it goes isn’t it?

Think about it, Jesus was a carpenter in the Middle East a couple thousand years ago. There were no cordless drills, no air compressors and nail guns, no fork lifts or cranes. They used large heavy hammers to drive hand made nails/spikes into hand made timbers that they lifted into place themselves.

Many of the apostles were fishermen, most were of the working class I’d bet pretty tough. I wouldn’t want to get into a fight with any of them. These were guys who walked everywhere in the sun and were used to coping with hardships. They were tough even before they left everything to follow Jesus and life only got harder didn’t it? Look at how most of them lived and died after they joined Him.

Even today it’s tough being a Christian. While our life has many conveniences we have many more types of obstacles. Our toughness is perhaps less physical and more mental but the result is similar. We don’t have Jesus at out site healing people or raising people from the dead. We have His spirit guiding us. But we are human and out of sight out of mind, right.