Clear the man’s name, for Christsake!

Today, as I was out front tending my grapes, a couple of nice young men in suits, with pamphlets, approached me. After discussing my grapes, rose hips and whether my son was home (my neighbor’s son had come over to check), they started asking me questions about my personal relationship with Jesus and sharing their “good news.” I explained I had my own beliefs that were serving me well.

I then took the opportunity to tell them “a lot of bad things are being done, right now, in the name of Jesus.” They shook their heads in agreement when I said, from what I have understood, Jesus was a man of peace.

I suggested they might want to use their connections to do whatever they could to stop bad things from happening and restore his good name. We went back and forth a few times. They wanted to talk about my baptism and I stressed the urgency of what I thought should be their mission.

They asked if they could stop back in a week to discuss my thoughts about future baptism and I declined. We shook hands and as they were leaving I stressed to them, “you have your work cut out for you!”

Just then my neighbor came back over and I told him about their assignment. He was amused and not at all offended. Said he agreed. I wasn’t sure cuz he was raised by fundies. (And 2 nicer people you will never meet.) He also just served in the marines, in Iraq. I've known him since he was 2 years old.

We live in interesting times.

…So often the darkest hour is that hour that appears before the dawn ……
-Dr. Martin Luther King

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