Irate, Informed, and Graced

I need to be more like Jesus.

Don't we all.

Jesus taught radical truths and, as such, spend lots of time surrounded by those who didn't share his conviction...some who you may even call "ignorant". But He didn't focus so much on the ignorant attitudes of those with whom He came into contact with as much as He did His response to them.....mercy....understanding....grace.
MAN....couldn't we all use more of that.
I mean, even Peter....a guy that had been with Him since the beginning....was so content to continually screw up, doubt, and not get it....it makes you wonder "what chance do WE have?....if a disciple who SAW Jesus do this stuff and heard His words first-hand and still screwed up so royally...what chance do I stand?"

The answer is "none". It's all about Grace.

I had an opportunity this weekend to make a choice. A Proverbs-teaching, cut and dry, wisdom-or-foolishness choice. I both succeeded and failed.

Ivy got Chicken Pox. We have dozens of friends who do not subscribe to the typical unquestioned, lobbyist-influenced, health care system that totes shots and vaccinations as the be all and end all of disease prevention. Does modern medicine have some things right? sure. Do they have TONS of things that they grandstand about for their own selfish gain while putting millions of children at risk for future permanent negative consequences to their self-proclaimed "universal solutions"? ...absolutely.
So within that parameter lies the role of the informed parent, needing to make a decision.
Our decision is a simple one....Chicken Pox has been around forever....If one of our kids catches it...we'll let the others catch it, get "infected" and get it over with. We even went so far as to invite other families with young children over to contract the virus from our daughter in hopes that they could also get it "over with". We had many takers. Over this past weekend...close to dozen children circulated through our home....playing closely with Ivy...with parents in hopes of their kids catching the virus themselves....and they also "getting it over with".

I guess that I should have expected for this idea to be met with some resistance. Especially in this uninformed, Ignorant-reactionary, believe-what-you-are-told-on-the-internet culture. But I didn't.
We didn't receive TONS of resistance...but the resistance we DID get was from radically ignorant, uninformed, uneducated, sad sources. From parents who think that what WE are doing is absolutely crazy and irresponsible but yet don't spend 2 seconds researching and educating themselves on the scores of vaccines that are being injected into the bodies of THEIR children. No thought is given as to the need for these injections...their overall effectiveness, or the contents in them (if you've read this far and have a 2 year old child who has all of their vaccine shots....they've already been injected with aluminum, formaldehyde, MSG (the same stuff that's in Chinese food), human DNA (including that of aborted fetuses), Guinea Pig or Cow embryos.....shall I go on? Yet somehow....it's my wife and I who are the "irresponsible" ones for allowing our children to be exposed to a non-lethal (at least at their age) virus with which they'll be immune to for their whole lives instead of allowing modern medicine to inject their crud-laden ( and hugely controversial) "vaccine" into our child's bodies....which may or may not even work.

Here's the part where I get pissed. Here's where I fail.

Or at least it's the part where I used to get pissed. Now...I just get sad. here's the part where I grow.
I get sad at the ignorance of our culture....and not even just the secular culture. The Christian culture that we live in has become so uninformed and secularized....so many uninformed decisions are being made for Christian children. I want to scream. It's not just the vaccinations. It's the hours that parents allow their children to be influenced by Xbox or PSP....the days and days that they allow their children to be molded by a secular coach or dance instructor in the name of "building character" while, in reality, are being corrupted by worldliness. The shopping out of their parental responsibilities to train up their children. I want to claw my eyes out. But Christ showed grace....so must I. Grace that is Greater than all Our Sins. I don't nearly have the tolerance or capacity that Christ Had. But I don't need to.
I need to daily praise Him for the education and conviction that he has given me and my family....and pray for those who need it. His grace is the only reason for any vision or guidance that we receive. I'm certainly not perfect. I'm a selfish sinner in need of huge amounts of growth. In 10 years...I hope to look back on where I am now and see HUGE amounts of growth in the life of me and my family from where we are right now. It begins by understanding, and receiving His grace.

Would you this moment His Grace receive?