A Plea on Behalf of Those Silent

Hello everyone. I will have the second part of that series sometime tomorrow hopefully. However I have something else I feel like talking about more right now. I went with my friends Thomas and Jessica and her amazing family to see To Save a Life. I'll tell you now, If you haven't seen it, then you need to, it's something that happens every day in many high schoolers lives.

It brought up some good points that I feel are necessary to repeat. We all skip over the little guy, the geeks, the oddballs, the misunderstood. It doesn't matter who we are. Saved or unsaved, friendly or not. We all miss them. We see them and we think at the very most, ugh, I'll go talk to them, so that way I'm being nice. We do it out of obligation or out of image. We want to look a certain way or it's something that we don't want to deal with a guilt trip over. To some degree it affects us all.

Maybe for some of you, you are like that at the worst, but maybe some of you are worse. How many of you have at some point made fun of someone for being different? For wearing something different, looking strange, having different interests?

I won't lie. I have. Sometimes I'm the one guilty of saying it, other times, I've laughed and joined in following friends lead. I even left a school system because of it. I realized what I was becoming and I left. I got rid of doing the wrong thing. I missed the part of doing the right thing though. I refused to stand up for the guy that was being made fun of and discouraged. I kept my head down wanting to stay out of the light. When I did help someone, I did as "charity". I was hoping to look noble from it. I'm sure all you have at least one similar story to that. It's something I myself have to work on. You see as a Christian I skimmed over some really important principles.

If there something that needs to be made clear. It's this righteousness isn't avoiding the wrong thing. It's DOING the right thing. PERIOD. I'm sorry, but we need to get rid of our pharisees' mind set and get off our butts and really be righteous.

James 1:22 "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

Do what God commands. Not just avoiding what He says don't do.

He makes a truth we can't deny in Matthew 25:34-40.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Does that sum it up? That guy you feel "obligated" to talk to? That girl you laugh at for her looks? The kid who wants nothing more than to be liked? You might as well consider yourself talking to Christ. Would you feel obligated to talk to Him? Rather I would fear that I would be taking up HIS time. They say Christ looked unbearable to look at on the cross, yet you say you wouldn't dare laugh at him. Though you laugh at that girl? You want and beg for God's mercy and attention and he gives it openly, lovingly, and freely. Why wouldn't you do the same for another? Who are we sinners to pick and choose? Who are we to judge? We are people who have been adopted in our utter filth by the Holy of Holies, how dare us accuse anyone else of being lesser than ourselves. Do you do it because you are afraid of being persecuted like that person? Are you afraid of being alone? Well for being alone, I'll tell you, I'd bet anything that the person you stick up for clings to you harder than you could ever imagine. For persecution, look to God's word:

Matthew 5:10: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I don't even need to explain that one.

I'm going to share with you a little story of mine, that happened not too long ago.

My dad got remarried last May, it terrified me. Last time I had a mom in the house, my life was horrible. I had been an only child for 17 years and suddenly I'm told to be a brother. I had no clue how to handle it. My dad was stressed out trying to make sure it all worked out that he never realized the toll it was taking on me. I was freaking out because I wasn't sure how to be a good brother to these two siblings and my dad kept telling me be a big brother Luke! He didn't realize it was tearing me apart like this. My dad also isn't an emotional man, he's very stoic and so we had issues of just being understood.

Then I did somethings with my girlfriend that I'm not proud of...and before long, her parent's found out. Within a week, it seemed like everyone I cared about had shunned me. It seemed like the church had shunned me, her parents (who I was desperately seeking their love) shunned me, and a few friends did too. I knew I had done wrong and I felt ashamed before God over it, then when the church wasn't talking to me, I felt as though I wasn't good enough anymore to be a Christian. I thought if the children reject me, then what hope do I have with the Father? Her parents who didn't know it, but I was putting all my hopes in receiving love from them, refused to speak to me, I went from being the cool kid, who was well liked, had his act together and was someone you would take home to meet the parents, to a broken insecure wreck who couldn't find hope, and remember I was saved. I always thought I was a good person until that day came and then suddenly I thought maybe I had it wrong, maybe I was a really bad person, I questioned if Paul was good the moment of conversion or if he had to earn it etc.

With myself being too ashamed to go to God about it, and with no one to turn to, I tried to kill myself by swallowing a bottle of hydrocodone. I was scared though and wasn't willing to take them all at once. I planned to take a few, then a bit later take some more, and then more and then more and so on. I took three and never made it to taking more, I fell asleep and woke up horribly sick the next day. I got really lucky that time. I never got the nerve to try again but for the rest of the summer I wanted to so badly. Then school started, and two things happened. One my girlfriend at the time (the one I got in trouble with) broke up with me and soon after she told me some potentially life-changing news (which we soon found out wasn't, thankfully).

I was down and I got kicked again, you can see. Instead though, something happened that saved me from where I was at. Rather than being content with standing by. Someone did something. Jessica Schneider was a girl who I was told wasn't the type of person to hang with and she might look down on me and she thought I was the kind of guy you that was asking for trouble. However, she posted a status update on facebook that I saw, and connected with over switching schools. I took a chance and just told her I knew how it felt. She even with her inclination to view me as the wrong type, invited me to a football game.

Before long I was at her bible study, and now she is my best friend. When I was worried about the possibility of dealing with BIG issues, she was getting me whatever I needed and willing to stand by me as much as needed. When I couldn't quit beating myself up over what I had done and been. She refused to let me settle with it and she insisted that I was a better person than that. She provided me with a person to talk to, she redeemed my faith in fellowship. I can honestly stand here and testify that she saved my life. Now we've come a long way since then. I'm back to where I was before I met those obstacles, smarter and wiser. You see there are a lot of things we could learn from what Jessica did, but one thing sticks out to me the most. The world wants to see miracles and wants to see Christ. Christ left 2000 years ago. He told us He was leaving, and He promised to send his Spirit until He returned. Christ is in us. What Jessica did was a miracle, they use to heal the blind and deaf, and she healed the heart of a guy on the path to destruction. You might say, well anyone could do that, and you're right they could. Yet she did do it. She reached out and offered a hand when it wasn't cool or beneficial. That's a modern day miracle. People miss the biblical heroes, I'll tell you now, people like Jessica are biblical heroes. We can all be one too. It just requires you to take a step and act. Be the hero in someone's life. I guarantee their are people all around you crying out for help, just look! Maybe they are the popular kid who is in a tough time in his life, maybe it's the teacher who is treated poorly by all the students, maybe it's the kid who doesn't have lunch with anyone or the pregnant teen. All it takes is one friendly, hello and you never know it could change everything. This goes for adults too. So as you go on with your day, just think about the difference you could make in someone's life. It had happened to Jessica, it can happen to you. Let God move within you, all you have to do is let him. I want to end with a verse from a song called Hero by Superchick, it's a remix of it actually. Think about this please.

Little Mikey D. was the one in class who everyday got brutally harassed
This went on for years until he decided that never again would he shed another tear
So he walked through the door, grabbed a four four out of his father's dressing drawer
And said I can't take life no more
And like that life can be lost
But this ain't even about that
All of us just sit back and watch it happen
Thinking' it's not my responsibility to solve a problem that isn't about me
This is our problem
This is just one of the daily scenarios which we choose to close our eyes
Instead of doing the right thing
If we make a choice and be the voice for those who won't speak up for themselves
How many lives would be saved, changed, rearranged
Now it's our time to pick a side
So don't keep walking' by
Not wanting' to intervene
Cause you want to exist and never be seen
So let's wake up and change the world
Our time is now

Much Love,

Luke

“It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.”