Not Knowing What to Think of Me

People who have been closely involved in my life in the past several years probably aren’t surprised by much I write on this Blog. They aren’t shocked by my use of an occasional expletive or by my comments on tequila or road rage. This is the me they know. I realize however there are those who knew me in my early years (before I was old and over thirty!!) who probably suspect I’m now a trashy-mouthed, Crack-head, alcoholic stripper. Know this- I neither have the body, nor the dance skills for that occupation. These are the friends who know me from my “young Christian” years. Those years when bad words were substituted with niceties such as “sugar!” and “darn”… when I believed that God answered prayers for finding a close parking space- because somehow His glory is tied into me having a shorter walk into the mall… and when Point of Grace was the greatest Contemporary Christian group EVER! Those same days when I would never drink because it would provide such a poor witness to those watching me that they would somehow NEVER want to know the Lord because how could I drink alcohol and still go to Heaven?

I can understand how friends who knew me then may be banning together at the moment to stage an intervention on my damnable soul. They’re wondering how the former vice-president of the Ole Miss Baptist Student Union could digress to such behaviors as drinking and swearing. Friends, before you pile in the car and crank up the Michael W. Smith while having “popcorn prayers” for me in the car, rest assured that I have not crossed over to the Dark Side. Sure, I cuss occasionally and I drink on a social basis, but I still love Jesus and I still seek God, but I don’t pray for close parking spaces and quite honestly, I think I would rather be a Crack-head stripper than ever listen to Point of Grace again.