Lessons from SCL

One of the blogs that I follow is Jon Acuff's blog called "Stuff Christians Like" (SCL): [http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/].

He's hilarious. And he pinpoints things within Christianity that are ridiculous, typical, stereotypical and real.  His blog is down-to-earth and sensible.  On Wednesdays, he does 'serious' posts and they usually go a bit deeper and they tend to bring up things that I read and think, Ouch. That's me. I do that. I shouldn't do that.

When I was in Chicago over tour, we stayed in a hotel and had free Wi-Fi (hooray!) and so I pulled up his blog.  It led me to a Serious Wednesday post entitled, "Joe Rogan's Story".  The whole post is here: http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/04/joe-rogans-story/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stuffchristianslikeblog+%28Stuff+Christians+Like+-+Jon+Acuff%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Yikes. That's a long address.  Hmm. Well. Go read it. It's good.

But, his post hit me this past Wednesday because I had just been thinking about the very topic he was discussing: the topic of judging people before you know them.  And making decision about certain people based on first impressions.  At the end of his post, he asked these questions:

"What if instead of jumping to conclusions about people, I walked into stories about people?"

"What if I could create space for someone to tell their story to me, instead of listening to the story I tend to make up in my head about them?"

"What if instead of judging, I looked for stories?"

His point is this: everybody has a story.  A background. A history. A reason for why they are the way they are. 

What if, when I talked to people, I attempted to find out their story, instead of believing my own story about them?

This was very real to me, because on tour with the touring choir, I spent a lot of time up close and personal with people that I don't usually spend that much time with.  True, we do have rehearsal 4 times a week, but passing a person in rehearsal is very different from living on a bus with them.

And I had to ask myself: was I really getting to know the people around me?  Was I finding out their stories? Listening to them?  Learning who they are, instead of who I thought they might be? 

It's a challenge for me.  And this week, my opinions and beliefs about some of the people I was with began to change. I was wrong about them.  I saw deeper into their lives and heard parts of their stories.  I saw people I had decided didn't exist.  I am glad to be proved wrong, although it is uncomfortable to realize anew the depth my pride and judgemental attitude.

"Dear friends, let us not love with words or tongue, but in actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

I thought I'd post this and challenge you as well.  What are the stories of the people around you?  Do you care?  Are you listening?  Who is hard for you to love?  Do you know their story?

"My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. " James 1: 19