It's all about people...

I know it might be naive of me to think that I have any sage like wisdom to pass on to others... I am nearly 26 years old and I have a lot of life to live... But in retrospect I believe that I've lived a lot of life in those 25 years... So what I have learned and what I hope to keep on applying is that other than keeping God in control of your life and serving Him with everything you have and are... life is all about people.

Achievements... school, education, traveling, eating, working, breathing... everything centers around people. What I have found out is that I continually miss applying this truth to my everyday life. I get involved in my classes, assignments, job, movies, television, books, the mundane and normal responsible tasks of life and I ignore people. Ask yourself this question... When was the last time you called your mom or dad or when did you last have a real genuine deep conversation with someone? For me my answers would be I talked with my mom and dad about three days ago and I had a good conversation with someone last Friday. Ok now that might make me look like I'm doing awesome... but in reality I have spent 2 or 3 weeks not calling my parents before and I have actually lived life not really communing with people beyond the surface conversations for weeks as well.

So where does the disconnect happen? Are we really afraid of relationships? Am I really afraid of close relationships? It's breaking the ice and not caring what people think that will open doors to new relationships, to new experiences, to new avenues of life that would previously be closed. Have you ever been to a new place and were taken back at how wonderful or awful it was and never knew that something like this could actually exist. It's like going on a missions trip and seeing poverty first hand or stepping off the train near the center of L.A. and seeing the entropy of society at its' core.

People... rich people, poor people, beautiful and ugly the marginalized and those with every opportunity available, those who would label themselves normal or above average, Christians, atheist, and everyone else of all faiths... every race and nationality... boil everyone down into one group... those who breath... who have a pulse, who exist... even those who are yet to be born... everyone is important... everyone is beautiful... everyone is loved by God and everyone should be loved by you (generic you).

I have been in seasons where the most important person in the world was "me." That is when sin creeps in and takes root... when God is out of the picture or at least on the sidelines... sin and lies have the opportunity to take root and really mess things up...

This doesn't mean that I am always this way, but it does mean that I have to be careful to avoid these seasons or these trains of thought...

Back to my point... people... the living breathing kind... are so very important...

Jesus came to save people... not just the special spiritual kind of people... all people...

God has no discrimination of who you are, how much money you have, what you look like... God only cares about the heart... and loves everyone... even those who hate Him and hate others...

In Acts 1o:34b-35 Peter learns that "God is not one to show partiality but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him." (NASB)

So there it is... people are important... love them... all of them...

Blessings,

Sam