Meet me in the middle

I’m just going to say it.

I am not political, liberal, conservative, left, right or preoccupied by the sexuality of people around me.

I don’t like it that the head of a company can be figuratively boiled in oil for touting his love for Jesus Christ. And I don’t like it that someone would tout love for Jesus Christ while turning fellow human souls away - from labor, from family, from fellowship - because of who they are or what they do or where they fit in with his thinking.

I don’t like it that gay bashers would use a man’s courage to own his faith as a rallying point to not speak up for Jesus so much as to speak out against someone else, or an entire segment of the population.

I don’t like it that some have decided that if we don’t share their customs we can’t share their higher power.

I don’t like it that some are hell-bent to create God in their own image.

I don’t like it that in some eyes Christianity has become synonymous with rigid narrow mindedness and intolerance. I have met Christians from the far reaches of the world who walk in Jesus’ light, hold their hands out to those in need and drape their arms around the shoulders of those who on the outside appear different, though inside we are all the same.

Some of these Christians are gay. Some are Democrats. Some are left-handed. Some are vegan. Some have tattoos. Some text and drive, though I wish they wouldn’t.

The thing is, no matter how polarized we as humanity allow ourselves to become in response to loud, judgmental and condescending people on any side of an issue, we still are not nor will we ever be the one whose opinion will decide eternity.

I want to live in a world where I can believe what I believe without being bashed for it and live the lifestyle I am hard-wired to live without being condemned for being perceived wrong or scooped onto a sanctimonious pedestal for being anointed “right.” No matter what.

The Jesus in my life led me to believe he and his dad would take care of the judgment portion of the program. My job was to know his love and to share it.

I don’t believe I can practice love and charity in the same breath it takes to march lock-step with the far right or the far left.

You won’t hear me spout my views on these issues very often. That is not who I am. But if you want to find me, look for me quietly living my life here, sometimes alone it seems, on middle ground.