#iamscruffmcgruff

[iamscruffmcgruff]

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Yo

[iamscruffmcgruff]

Switchfoot song of the day...

4:12. “Souls aren’t built of stone, souls aren’t built of stone, sticks and bones.”

[iamscruffmcgruff]

[iamscruffmcgruff]

The gospel is a paradox: We deserve hell. Jesus said, 'I come that they may have life.'

John 10:10

[iamscruffmcgruff]

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America. It is filled with arrogance, ungratefulness, selfishness, people who judge each other until they have lost all dignity. There is wastefulness and ignorance, and indifference. Prejudice exists in every way, shape and form, and in every group imaginable in every corner in every room in every town. There are “honest” people fighting for honest ends who work for a family, and create stability, being a “productive member of society” or go to church, do charity, but still make lots of bad decisions, mistakes, and possess massive flaws which they may deny exist and not just to lie to others but to themselves. There are slightly more honest people who make their flaws visible and openly share what the darkness inside them is really like and have no fear being themselves: drug addicts, lawyers, doctors, waitresses, musicians, ex-criminals, criminals, gang members, people who lie, cheat, and steal in every sense of those words, yet many of them still have some wonderfully good sides, dignity, gentleness, and a greater awareness of the mess they live in and an ability to see clearer and articulate better the problems of this society than the “honest” and “good” people. There are blissfully unaware, comfortable people who live in their small box and only worry if their box will be disturbed. There are people heavy laden with many problems that most wouldn’t understand. There are people who are aware of some issues who truly care about other people but beyond saying they care and doing a few kind deeds, do nothing to change the large scale causes of the problems they see and experience. There are politicians who take advantage of the problems people face and exploit their needs for the benefit of gaining their votes, because government needs reform, yet we want the end result of reform and we are far from it and government that needs reform is slow and people will fail us, and people promise things in elections that they never accomplish because this system is not our only answer. We struggle to see our massive needs as our own responsibility and we struggle to fight for others because we only care about our own needs. How will we reform if we do nothing to reform? THIS is where I’m a hypocrite, I don’t know anything about politics but I sit here criticizing our system explaining why there’s no point in being infatuated with change if we’re not going to get down and dirty in it, and get to know it better and my argument is hollow if I don’t try to figure this out because I’m the problem, I’m the person with good intentions but that is also stupid.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” - Mahatma Gandhi

There are people who see this chaos and enjoy pitting all of these groups against each other to make an even louder dissonance in the world just for the entertainment. There are those who want things to change but have been moved to indifference because of a lack of compassion or motive (they think they are unaffected or simply they feel helpless, etc.) There are those who act, but stir up hatred and divisiveness because of the nature of conflicting groups and polar perspectives where people do not understand each other.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” - Unknown

Pray for opportunity for growth in transparency, humility, opportunity to act, not just believe and say, but to act to become a person who creates unity and healthy changes in our society. Pray for understanding of those who you don’t agree with, and pray especially for the ones who provoke anger and hate.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

We have a plethora of prejudice and loud opinions where we should have an effort to gain understanding and listening ears. Where there is a shortage like this: We have an opportunity.

We have diversity. We have freedom. We have the ability to choose to work on love. We have people. We have so much potential. In America you should vote, you have the ability to affect some form of change– but after you vote (and hopefully not only one time) make another decision, how you will live in this country and world for the rest of your life because your choices about what you think, about what you say, and about what you do matter. How you see, talk, and act towards your fellow human beings matters.

“There is no us or them, there’s only folks that you do or don’t understand.” -Jon Foreman

…after this is all over go be kind to someone you disagree with. Go learn something about some place or people group and learn to respect different cultures, sub-cultures, and political parties. People are weird. They are flawed, they are ugly, they are wrong sometimes. BUT ask yourself what it would mean if you were to live like the saying that goes:

“Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”

-  Jesus

[iamscruffmcgruff]

I love this song

You're a lost soul I know your kind For I have followed them But never quite never found myself Where you all go to lose yourselves Close my mouth not to ask for help And my mother knows my eyes too well You're a truth speaker With a heart of gold Please keep me close For I'd like to learn some With fools gold I tried to hide my tongue But from you speaks the very sun And I pray that you will always hold on —Little Prayer, Rachel Sermanni

[iamscruffmcgruff]

(Here now.)

Jesus is simultaneously an ever present, all-knowing, all-powerful God AND He is love.

He is with you right now in this moment, caring about everything you’re feeling, and understanding what it is to be human.

[iamscruffmcgruff]

It's so beautiful.