The Whole Package

Have you ever met someone you think you wouldn't relate to/be friends with but end up feeling the opposite after you had gotten to know them? I've met a lot of wonderful people over the course of my young life. Have seen people grow, seen people change. Met a lot of strangers than became friends. Met a lot of, strangers. ha. I've seen unsuspecting people form strong bonds. I went to a youth conference in 2005 and I didn't really expect much from it. When I got there I kinda figured the attendees would be similar to other churches or youth groups or youth events I've been to. When I got there I met people who didn't look like they belonged there. There were spike studded leather jackets, coloured mohawks, tattoos and even an ex convict. From a conservative stand-point, coming from a conservative family and conservative church, those things were, y'know, bad. ha. In my head I was like, these guys must be new here.. or.. they're probably rebellious kids forced to be here by their parents or something. But later, I had spoken to one of these people, even listened to one of these people speak and they were the most on-fire people for God I've ever witnessed then. And that moment and that conference was a defining point for the rest of my life. 

Stereo-typing is always going to be here. Us humans, we rely on those kind of things to be able to identify what is what. Even with objects. We look at the packaging, and how something and how someone is packaged defines how they are, the product that is inside the package. Though, more than likely it's not. Say I put toothpaste in a cat food container. Do you not think it would not serve the same purpose even if it's in a cat food container? Or if I put jelly beans in a toothpaste container. They'd still rot my teeth if I used them to brush 'em even if they were inside a tube of colgate. 

In Matthew 23:23-27, Jesus criticized a group of people for doing just that. having garbage on the inside, yet pretending to be something or someone good. It really doesn't work that way. Jelly beans are still jelly beans even if you put them in a colgate tube or a tylenol container. If you don't change the inside, it doesn't matter what you put on the outside. And since I don't have anything clever to say at the end of my blogs like I usually do, I think this old saying will do it all justice.. 

Never, judge a book by it's cover. - God is Love