Shut Up So I Can Hear What You Are Saying

"God created man, Sam Colt made him equal"

That is what I was staring at as I waited in line to drop Isaak off at school today. The truck in front of me in line had this bumper sticker as well as some other NRA stickers and I have been thinking about it all day.
Faith Christian School is such an amazing place. There is such a feeling of warmth and genuine interest in our children there. Every morning, rain or shine, the teachers take turns lining up along the drop off lane and they wave the American Flag as the cars drive by. It is almost like a parade that welcomes the kids to school each day. Today, however, I was just struck by this dichotomy between that guys bumper sticker and the values of the school that he willingly pays a lot of money for his son to attend. I am not at all debating the gun issue, that is not my point. What I am wondering is how much what we do, what we say and what other people see when they look at our lives causes people to get a mixed message.

"Shut up so I can hear what you are saying" was something that a teacher I had in high school would say. He was referring to the fact that our actions really do speak louder than words. We all have heard that a thousand times and most of us would agree with that. But what about what we don't necessarily do, but how other people see us in general. I know that people are always going to have an opinion of us and to some extent we can not control what other people think about us, but where does our responsibility lie in sending these mixed messages.

Let me give you another example. A few years ago I was sitting outside on campus waiting for a class to begin when I saw an older woman driving a van that had several Pro Life bumper stickers on the back of it. There must have been at least 8 or 10 different anti-abortion stickers plastered all over the van which is why it caught my attention in the first place. What caused me to remember it three years later is that the woman had two younger kids in the middle row of seats and she was smoking, with the windows rolled up. I am sure that she felt like putting the stickers on the back of her van was sending a message to people that she believes we should protect the life and health of all children, but what I saw was someone who did not even care about the two children sitting directly behind her breathing the second hand smoke.

I have been pondering these two situations all day and trying to figure out just what God is trying to teach me here. I know that He has put these images in my mind and on my heart for a reason, I am just waiting to realize exactly what that is.

........ to be continued.