Pooper Scooper

Another re-run from November! Like that special vintage year, November was a very good month...

A friend just walked into the office today and it was a delight to see him! After finishing up a PhD he had left on a European vacation before he makes a career move. The trip had two purposes: an opportunity to get away and travel; but also to see family in Norway. Since my heritage is Swedish there has been good natured bantering back and forth over the years ("Do you know why Jesus could never have been born in Norway? Because God could not find any wise men to the East!" Or, "What do you call a good looking man in Norway? A tourist!").

When he came in he shared about his travels (even kindly referring to Sweden) and how the border-patrol recognized his last name when she read it. He felt like he had come home! How neat! The funny part came out when I began to kid him about being an American, who is Norwegian with an email address of black-irish! (Either a bit confused about his identity or just a good sense of humor) When I mentioned that to him it prompted another story. One day on the train he met a Norwegian man who was a pastor. They struck up a conversation and my friend mentioned that he grew up Lutheran but currently attends an Evangelical Free Church, to which the pastor responded, "Ah, yes, a good Swedish church!" Now we are talking serious identity crisis!

My friend the American-Norwegian who attends a Swedish church and "black-irish" is his email moniker. Naturally, he's caucasian. I'm sooo confused!

This is humorous, in a good-friend-kind-of-way. But for some followers of Jesus it hits close to the mark. The humor hides the fact that they actually are confused about who they are and it shows because of the hyphenated identifiers they give to themselves. "I'm an American-christian"; "I'm a baptist-christian" or "pentacostal-christian"; "I'm a christian-doctor"; "a republican-christian"; "a democrat-christian" or "christian-mechanic" ad nuaseum.

This came home to me many moons ago (that means I'm too old to remember when) from one of Charles Colson's books (don't ask which one, it was many moons ago, remember?). In it he tells the story of a Billy Graham Crusade in New York. A leading Mafia man attended and decided he would become a Christian. But not just a Christian, he would be a Christian-mobster! By golly he was going to do his job as unto the Lord. "Hey, Johnny, remember dat da boss says we gotta say grace before we bust this boobs knuckles!" (Ah, a new evangelism tool, perhaps?)

Colson's point, as I recall, was that there is a problem when a person adds Jesus to their life. When they become hyphenated-christians. We need to realize that Jesus is not an addition to life. Jesus IS life. He is the alpha and the omega. He is the way, the truth and the life. He doesn't add to life, he gives life. As the Apostle wrote

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men." [John 1:4]

Because he is my life, I also find my identity in him. In him I am beloved. In him I am God's child. In him I am a saint. In him I have a future and a hope. In him I am a Christian.

Now I do have other things in my life. My career, my family, my hobbies. But being in him comes first and foremost. So, I'm a follower of Jesus, whose vocation is pastoring, a husband and father of two, a ski-patroler and in our dog's life, the pooper-scooper-upper. The great thing is that with Jesus as my life, I discover "life" breaking out in all these things, even pooper-scoopering.

On the outside it may look like I'm an Amercian-Swede-dad-pastor-ski patrol-pooper-scooper-christian. But the truth is, in Christ I am God's child who happens to get the other things tossed in. Even scooping poop.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" [1 John 3:1]

Enjoy!