Another beautiful winter day in Indianapolis. Those warm climate host cities have nothing on us. With the Super Bowl festivities climaxing a few hours from now, I decided to take a stroll down to the Super Bowl village to mingle with the rich and famous. Not really. Though the streets were filled with limos and police escorts, the walkways swarmed with red & blue jersey wearing, bud-light toting, happy to-be-here fans. Swarmed might be an understatement. The pilgrimage of the faithful brought thousands to Indianapolis. I must admit, I felt a bit of pride in our small market city, formerly only known to some in association with corn fields and race cars. The zip line was running at full capacity. The music stages boomed. The party tents rocked. Fans cheered. The street preachers preached. Yep, no gathering of people en masse would be complete without the megaphone preacher and his sign holding side kicks. In the few blocks I walked, I counted a half-dozen men declaring boldly their claim of the Gospel. Most were fairly innocuous. For the most part, people just strolled by, some mumbling under their breath, others pretending not to hear. I always wonder about the effectiveness of this type of evangelism. Preaching to those who want to listen is one thing, but preaching to those who don't, well that's just being a nuisance. Does God call Christians to public nuisance? I don't know. Not all were mere obstacles to get by though. One man was a bit of a traffic stopper. He managed to gather a bit of a congregation. When I first saw him, he was battling a not entirely sober man over the mic. You couldn't miss him. All mic'd up, he stood above the crowd and was adorned with boldly printed signs declaring that "ALL drunkards, whore mongers, homosexuals, thieves ... are going to HELL!". His spoken message was pretty much that as well. His list of hellians included Rappers, rock singers, and pretty much all those football worshiping fans within earshot. The crowd mockingly loved him. I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh a little, though hoping that this wasn't the only impression of Christ these people get.
Sometimes its easy to get discouraged, frustrated, even embarrassed by those claiming to serve the same God as I do. I find myself falling into this trap often. The thing is though, God isn't phased by all this. His plans are still sure. His work is still evident in those faithful to the truth of the Gospel. People have been getting in the way of God since the beginning of, well, people. I guess that's part of what makes him great. Though we are dependent on him, he is not dependent on us (though wants to use us, imagine that.) He is always God always sovereign. And though I often wonder about the specifics of what He is doing, and get frustrated by questions and insecurities, I know that He is still at work in this world, despite the actions of those who bring evil on fellow humans, despite the hubris of those who mock His name, despite the foolishness of those who make a mockery of His Name, despite those who are faithful to church but not their calling, despite me. Though he made us all image bearers, God doesn't seem too worried too much about His image. Maybe I should worry less about it as well, while reminding myself that he has called me to bear it.
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