Geeks of the world unite!

This one's for you Sherry.

Yesterday, my wife and I had lunch with my longtime friend and mentor, Jack Harris along with his wife Sherry. During the course of the conversation, Jack suggested that I begin speaking to youth groups (something I already had in mind to do). The next thing he said was rather humorous. He said that he, himself, being a whopping 52 years old was a little too old for the job. The news came as a surprise to me. I can remember being 16 years old when Jack rode into my youth group's worship service with his long hair, goatee, and Harley Davidson. All he had to do was tell one story of casting out a demon in India and all of us youngsters would hang on his every word. Jack is the kind of guy who, somehow you suspect, that if he wasn't a born again Christian engaged in evangelizing the planet, he would probably be a Godfather. Jack is the king of cool whether he knows it or not. My suspicion is that he probably knows it, but his inner humility keeps him from admitting it to himself.

And then there's me. Although, growing up, I always wanted to be cool; I've always been more like Clay Aiken than Marlon Brando (Okay, I'll admit it. I actually do sing in the shower imagining myself trying out for American Idol) In grade school and junior high, I was the brainy kid in school. Of course, since my class was only 10-15 people, that wasn't saying much. It wasn't until I went to a public high school and started taking honors classes that I realized that I was the smartest of the dumb and the dumbest of the smart. Great! I'm neither brains nor brawns, how uncool is that!

After years of frustration, I finally figured out that I should probably just go with my geek self. Allow me to let my readers in on a little secret-there are far more of us than there are of them! Shh.....tell only who you must....we wouldn't want the cool people of the world to find out our secret plot to overthrow them...geeks of the world unite!

As enticing as that may sound, we geeks know that will never happen. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of glad that could never happen. I don't know about you, but I'm glad that God made all kinds of people in this world. After all, what would the world look like if we were all the same? The good news of the gospel is that God invites the Screeches and Napolean Dynamites to the same table as the Donald Trumps and the John Waynes. The beauty of the Church is that it is filled with all different kinds of people set free by the love of Christ. Whether you are a geek or a stud, a professor or the town idiot, there's room at the table for you. God invites you and me to His table not on the basis of who we are, but on the basis of who He is. What the world needs more than anything is unconditional love- and this is exactly what God has given us in Christ. If you've never come to the table, it's time to "Taste and see that the Lord is good" What are you waiting for? The clock is ticking....I hope to see you there.