Greetings!
Well... if for some reason... you’ve tracked me down and want to know a little about me... well... maybe this will be helpful or entertaining...
When I was 7, my folks took me to Toys R Us, the giant toy store warehouse. They told me to get whatever I wanted... they thought I would come home with a shiny, new, bike. After several hours of walking up and down all the aisles, trying out the games, bikes, skateboards, basketballs, etc... I came home with a shiny, new, Bible.
When I was 15, I asked the “wrong” question while sitting in the high school, sunday school class. The two topics of discussion were usually about the local high school sports teams and social gospel activities in the “third world.” My Biblical question resulted in the sunday school teacher grabbing me by the arm, dragging me down the aisle of the church... and back to the pastor’s office. The pastor agreed with the sunday school teacher, that the Bible wasn’t all true. It was my last Sunday there, I started attending a different church.
In a graduate program, one day a professor took me aside for a discussion, she told me, “you will wear many hats,” referring to my future career(s). As I didn’t think much of her or her style of therapy... I didn’t take her seriously. However... of course... that would be the phrase God would grab and run with.
While attending a college/career class... as we were in the process of hiring a singles pastor... I became aware of financial corruption, with class funds, among the class leadership... so I shut the class down. The following week, at a hiring meeting, one of the class members loudly and hysterically told me I was now “the most hated man” in this Big Box church, for exposing the corruption and shutting down the class. Three years later, at a city prayer breakfast, he saw me and apologized, saying what I had done and how I had done it were the right things to do.
I learned that God has a great sense of humor, as he’s often placed me in the very situations (jobs, relationships, travel, etc...) I said I would never be in... great adventures... learned a lot... and carry the secrets of many. My motto now: I don’t care Lord... whatever you want.
I am fluent in all the major christian dialects... Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Reformed, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah’s Witness, Big Box Church, Community Independent, etc...
If you’re wondering if I’m “God focused and Biblically based,” yes, I’d say so. Might we be living in the era of the Laodicean church, could be... if so, a lot of “christians” should probably be concerned... maybe, be prepared. Jesus spoke with and ate with all kinds of people... nice and evil, rich and poor, those loveable and those most hated, children, prostitutes, tax collectors, murderers, victims of abuse and those who abuse, etc... so do I.