Saturday, March 27, 2010

Are you cheering?!

A while ago I had the strangest dream. In the dream I was walking outside in my mother's neighborhood. As I was walking I saw the bridge that you can walk over the freeway and see all the cars below. As I got closer I noticed that there was a big group people standing around the bridge. Wanting to know what was going on I walked quicker to see what was going on. The closer I got I could hear chanting and cheering. People were screaming, "COME ON! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" As I got closer I saw that there was a man about to jump of the bridge and end his life. I gasped HORRIFIED as people continued screaming and chanting. "Just do it! Jump! Come on, JUST JUMP! JUMP! I was SHOCKED! I couldn't believe that people would be cheering someone on to end their life. "NOOOOOO!" I screamed. "Don't do it!" But it was to late for my one little cry. It was overshadowed by the screaming and cheering throng of people. The cheering of the people in the crowd turned to whoops and hollers of joy as the man took his final plunge off the bridge and ended his life. "Oh yeah! He FINALLY did it!" The people shouted with enjoyment as they high fived each other. "That was AWESOME!" I woke up with a suddeness and just sat in my bed horrified by my dream. If only that man could have heard someone say that they loved him and that his life still had value! IF ONLY I had gotten there SOONER maybe, there would have been a different outcome!
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The WHOLE day a just felt an eeary feeling of gloom over me. While the kids were napping at work, I sat on the couch and just thought about the dream! It was sooooo CREEPY! I mean to think that people were ACTUALLY cheering and encouraging someone to just end their life absolutely disgusted me.
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As I sat there and thought about it, I felt like God impressed something on me about the dream. Not like I had vision or anything, just a thought he put through my mind. I felt like he told me that sometimes thats what we do to each other within the church. Sometimes we see that our brother or sister in the Lord is falling. Often times there is that ONE person that we see making the same mistakes over and over again. They are weak...they are struggling. But instead of trying to help them up, we gossip and talk about them behind their back.
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So often a person leaves the church and we shrug our shoulders in nonchalance. I remember talking to a girl from another church one time on the phone. I asked her how a girl in her church was doing. She casually said that the girl was struggling to live for God. "Oh well," l she said indifferent, you can't win them all. I was shocked. How could someone talk so carlessly about their friend losing out with God?
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There is a young man in my church named Sam Karlson. He stopped going to church in his early teens and got back in church at 18. When he got back in church, I wrote his testimony and it's pretty awesome some of the things that God brought him from. But, one thing I remember him tellin me about was that his mom ALWAYS prayed for him. He said that sometimes he would come home late at night, drunk from partying and he would find his mom praying for him. You know why? Because it was HER son. She loved him and she wanted above all else to see him saved. When same stopped coming to church, What if his mom had just been like, "Oh bummer, my son's not coming to church anymore?" But NO! She got down her knees and did some heartwrenching praying. I don't believe some would be back in church is she hadn't!
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When someone leaves the church we need to make it PERSONAL!!! Think about how you would feel if someone you loved dearly left church...or perhaps you do know. Your not just like, whatever...NO! YOUR on your kneew, pleading the blood over them. WELL, This is not just anyone, this is OUR brother, OUR sister!!! You say, well I just don't feel that way...ASK GOD to give you a burden!
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I think sometimes we see them getting ready to take that final lunge and leave the church. BUT instead of screaming...NOOOOOOOOO...STOP!!! We secretly are cheering them on in our hearts. Just go on now...get outta here...LEAVE! 
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Then when they do, we turn to each other, "Aw, I knew they were gonna leave eventually. They never really had it in their hearts anyways." And we are pleased in knowing that we were really right about them ALL ALONG! And perhaps your right, BUT WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF we had all gone to that person and told them that we loved them?! What if we had told them that we cared about them?! WHAT IF we told them that we believed in them?! WHAT IF we told them that it didn't matter what they had done, God would still forgive them. WHAT IF we had all gotten down on our knees and PRAYED AND WEPT FOR THEM?! Maybe there would be a DIFFERENT outcome.
THINK about it, are you screaming NOOOOO?!
 Or are you cheering them on?!