This Guy.

So there is This Guy.  This Guy is one of those guys who is totally "that guy."  As good ol' Churchill is quoted to have said, "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."  Though we both received a significant amount of education in the same fields, both work in vocational ministry, and both subscribe to the same theological foundations, I am pretty sure we disagree on many aspects of what ministry is and how it should be done.  Everything about him makes me want to dislike and despise This Guy.  Even the way he dresses irks me!  If he were to say that all trees are green, you would probably find me painting my dogwoods, oaks, and elms red, just so I wouldn't be caught in agreement with him.  If it were me, a chicken, and This Guy stranded on a desert island together, it just might be the chicken and I who had a nice snack when the going got rough.

And yet, This Guy is always quick with a kind word.  He asks me good questions when we talk.  He was touchingly excited at Anna's birth.  He goes out of his way to include my wife in theological conversations.  He always smiles when he sees me.  He humbly hears those who disagree with him.  He receives correction graciously.  Because of this, though in my sin it is my instinct to dismiss This Guy, look down on This Guy, or even mock This Guy, I can't.

This post is not about my differences with This Guy, the ways that I believe This Guy is wrong, or even the ways that he may believe I am wrong.  Rather, it is about the startling love that paves the way for unity despite our differences, the startling love that This Guy shows to me.  Christ said that his followers will be recognized by how they love one another. Christ's repeated message throughout the final chapters of the gospel of John is that we, as his disciples, should love one another.  We all have a This Guy in our lives, and we must all guard ourselves against the sins of devaluing our brothers simply because we disagree.  I have been such a fool to be so willingly divisive in my heart.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I now agree with This Guy in everything - but his love is inarguable.  This Guy humbles me; I need This Guy.

May my life be so filled with Christ's that when I am off, when I am confusing, when I am uncool, and even when I am flat out wrong, God's love will yet shine undeniably in me - may I be found so loving when I am someone else's This Guy.  Thank you, This Guy.

- Drew