Rejection?

I love to joke around and make fun of others and myself when it works. I am going through the gospel of Mark. I am at the section where Jesus’ family has come after him to talk some sense into him. Now the hometown crowd doesn’t see him as being anything more than just a low paid carpenter or laborer. The unfortunate result was that Jesus didn’t do many miracles or say a whole lot. The impact was minimal. Why did this happen? Why is it the case that some times the people that are the closest to you judge you the most?

I am reminded by many of my friends that I am in the middle of a battlefield. Where the enemy is throwing fiery darts all of the time. I tend to either pretend this isn’t happening or think that I am exempt from this. Then I am hit by something that reminds me how totally absurd the enemy can be when it comes to how he chooses to play. I have a group of kids at New City that do come out of unfortunate, i.e. bad, situations. I am starting to see at times I can be competing for the attention of the kids with their single moms or guardians. My purpose is to re-enforce the parent relationship and be more like an older uncle or grandpa. Yet, I have to admit that there is a huge cultural gap between the different people groups that live in South Phoenix.

This last week someone accused me of something that is really horrible. The difficulty is that they would never say this to my face but instead label me as being __________. So instead their teens get really upset and I am sure deep down inside can’t figure what is really going on inside the head of their single parent or their partner. I wish there was a way to fight this but there isn’t. I have tried in the past to dialogue with someone but it always turns into an argument where I lose and one of my kids are then forbidden to come any more. I just want to scream and beat someone up for being so juvenile but this is the way people act.

Is there any way I can avoid all of this drama? Yeah, I think I can choose to be more involved with the parents by inviting them and attempt to get them involved. I know that most won’t but at least I should try. I know that there is nothing to reveal in when someone chooses to reject you or say horrible things about you. Jesus moved on and continued to show the truth in simple, practical ways that expressed the impact that grace and mercy can have.