More To People, More To Life

Ever saw someone and instantly hated them? Or maybe you saw someone and instantly knew that you would be friends? Ever had love at first sight? What about hate at first fight?

Maybe you look at someone and think that they're too preppy. Look at them and think they're immature. Too shy. Too loud.

But... Do you see a soul inside?

They're on your soccer teams. They're at your school. They're in your school. They live next door. They're your friend's friends. They're your siblings' friends. They're all around you.

"We all like to stare..."

A new person comes into church in booty shorts and a tank top. You're thinking, "Umm, this is church. Shame on them." You're spending the hour-and-a-half at church thinking bad things about them, and being judgmental.

But this is not about new people at church.

Are you misjudging your very own friends?

This does not mean you're stabbing their back in your mind.

Have you ever thought of someone one way, found out a little bit about them, and never thought of them the same way again?

This is not saying that you are a judgmental person because maybe you're guilty of thinking someone is ten times worse than they really are. It is saying that maybe you aren't doing anything. Or maybe you don't know anything... yet.

I could have sworn that they were completely different.

On Sunday, our youth group (ThExperience) had Fine Arts Festival practice. Since my family lives far away from the church, and practice is after church, my mom makes me stay at church (until 12:30 and church ends at 11:30! Not too bad, considering Pastor Brown almost never ends church on time) with Faith, eat lunch with the human video kids, (Those kids are quite entertaining!) and sit through two practices. One is the human video, the other is the drama. I have to sit through them because my band practice is right afterwards, and it'd make no sense to leave Faith at church, me go home, then come right back. Considering we already have to be at church in the A.M., that's a lot of back-and-forth driving.

SO ANYWAY! The kids were doing their drama, and for the second time, I spotted a binder that said "ThExperience Testimonies". The first time I saw it, it was a Wednesday night and I didn't have time to check it all out. Today, I had thirty minutes. So I read the testimonies of the people I knew, even if I didn't know them very well.

I could have sworn that many of those kids were completely different people before now.

I found that my peers were not always as happy as they appeared.

I found that they have overcome a lot.

I found that they struggle with more than beyond this blog's mentioning.

I found that they were depressed.

I found that they weren't happy with their self-image.

But these were testimonies, so of course, they are happy again and everything! The upset were now joyful, the guilty were now forgiven, the struggle ended with victory, the depressed now felt loved, the unconfident now felt beautiful. I just couldn't believe they were ever on the downside.

I never thought life was ever like that.

Later that night was LifeGroups. Surprise, more testimonies. And even more intense. And just as much unbelievable.

I found that they were damaged by divorce.

I found that they were lonely and afraid.

So... at this point, I was like, "More people. How did I never know any of this?"

"So many hurting people..."

Why didn't I ever take the time to talk to some of these people? Why didn't I ever look at these people? Why did I always stay in my social group?

You can't make a change by doing nothing.

We're looking for some ACTION!