Monday Morning Insights

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    Things That Tick Me Off

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    WAY TO TICK ME OFF #1
    Christians who eat out, and instead of leaving a tip, leave a tract. Especially Chick Tracts. Or they leave a small tip and do the same thing. Or worse yet: grumpy, rude Christians who are demanding and mean to the server. What a great witness for Christ! I?m sure everyone who is on the receiving end of this is just looking for an altar to come forward to and get saved. When I waited tables for a living, I wanted to leave when certain "Christians" came in. I hoped they would get seated in my section because I didn?t want the other servers subjected to their abuse. On the other hand, some Christians were a real joy to serve, and I was hopeful that my unbelieving friends would get to interact with them.

    WAYS TO TICK ME OFF #2
    Christians who drive like the devil. They don?t use their turn signal, they cut people off in traffic, they ignore others while talking on their cell phones behind the wheel, and they speed through school zones. Granted, lots of people do this, not just Christians. So how do I know they?re Christians? Because they have those FISH on the backs of their cars (even the expensive cars!) ? and some of them even have those Greek letters. Years ago, Chuck Swindoll said that these people should just do us all a favor and rip those off their cars, because not only are they a horrible representation of Christ, but usually the police don?t read Greek anyway, and it?s not going to help the driver?s cause. I would agree.

    WAYS TO TICK ME OFF #3
    Christians who are great at reacting but lousy at responding. What?s the difference? Reacting is the quick, often knee-jerk type of comeback that many people have when faced with something they don?t like. There are plenty of people who can scream, rant, and even write letters to the editor, complete with Bible references (usually taken out of context) and lots of exclamation points. This is reacting. Their hearts are usually in the right place, but they don?t grasp how to effectively communicate their convictions to those they?re trying to convince. Responding, on the other hand, is the thought-out, prayed over offering of someone who does not live primarily by emotion. This means taking your time before writing or calling, and listening to Paul?s admonition in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 ?

    And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (NIV - emphasis mine)

    Actually, this would be a great passage for any of the pet peeves.

    WAYS TO TICK ME OFF #4
    Rick Warren (and seeker-sensitive mega-churches). Another pet peeve is those who hate seeker-sensitive mega-churches (and Rick Warren). Just kidding here, but couldn?t resist Todd?s admonition?

    Why do people who proclaim to be followers of Jesus act this way?

    Some of it probably has to do with ignorance ? they don?t realize they are doing it and/or just how it looks to the rest of the world. Maybe it?s because they just feel that they are too good to have to follow the rules ? rules of etiquette, rules of the road, and rules of intelligent conversation. My guess is that there are different reasons, but no matter what the reasoning, it makes me want to cringe. And sometimes even apologize to others for my brothers and sisters, because I know that the Father and the Brother are hurt by their behavior as well.

    But here's the good news: there is a large influx of those who are the antithesis of what I?ve discussed so far. My hope is that you will be one of these.

    I?d love to see your responses, and even see what you would add to the list.

    Later!

    Brian

    Brian La Croix is the Pastor of Aberdeen Wesleyan Church, and fortunate to be married to Debra for almost 18 years, with 5 kiddos.  He's majorly pumped about the fact that his two teenagers still think he's cool.  When not working, he loves to read, follow Minnesota Twins baseball, and watch John Wayne movies.  If really pressed, he will admit to liking the Bee Gees (but not publicly...).

    Today, we start a new experiment of having some guest bloggers here at the MMIBlog.  Our first entry comes from Brian LaCroix.  Maybe you share some of Brian’s Pet Peeves think it?s safe to say that most, if not all of us have some pet peeves. I’m not sure why we’d call something that bugs us a "pet," but that?s not the issue? Here are some of my pet peeves…

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    1. Bernie Dehler on Wed, November 30, 2005

      I’d suggest it’s not healthy to focus on “what ticks me off” ... for example, seeking to add to the list. It’s negative and energy draining.  Maybe it would be ok if it was clear it was serving some sort of purpose.


      Hope this post didn’t tick you off…  http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif

      Philippians 4:8


      Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

       

    2. Kevin on Wed, November 30, 2005

      The tip one is one of mine.


      How about my church is better than your church mentality.  We act like our competition is other churches when actually we should be partnering with other churches because our enemy is the devil.

    3. Brian La Crox on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Actually Bernie,


      You hit on a good point.  I’m not normally a very negative person.  But I’ve been wanting to get this off my chest for awhile, and I thought this would be a safe place, as well as productive, because I know that all of us on this forum are committed to living for and reflecting Christ to the world.

      And if these weren’t so prevalent, I wouldn’t even bother, because I want to live above the pettiness.


      Unfortuntately, the pettiness can have a detrimental effect on kingdom efforts.


      Also, your point is well taken because I’m of the opinion that if Christians would spend MORE time focusing on the positive rather than the negative, then numbers 1 and 3 in particular wouldn’t be such a problem.


      (Are we allowed to have lengthy responses to our own posts…?)

       

      Blessings, Bernie!


      Brian

       

    4. Larry on Wed, November 30, 2005

      The tip one happens all the time.  I was in a restaurant on Monday morning and the waitress shared with me that all of the waitresses were discussing the fact of how awful church people are to wait on when they come in after church on Sundays.  They are rude, demanding, leave tracts and a little tip. Then we wonder why they don’t want to hear about Jesus. She said, “You would think that they would be more spiritual after being in church”.  I tell my church that if they can’t afford to leave a 20% tip then they can’t afford to eat out.  It is amazing the testimony that Christians have with restaurants, sports teams, and driving.  We suddenly leave Christ out.

    5. Kevin on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Brian,


      I think blogs and stuff are good therapy.  People need to lighten up.  This is a way to talk among friends and vent in a funny way. I’m with you!

    6. Tony Myles on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Great stuff, Brian!  Good tie in from your pet peeves to some proactive biblical direction.  Who knows - maybe you can send this to Wesleyan HQ?

    7. Dean on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Each of these behaviors simply demonstrate a person’s demeaning opinion about others.  I’m certainly not throwing stones, because I’ve been guilty of more than one of these behaviors.  And each time I acted that way, it was primarily because someone else’s words or behavior just didn’t suit me.


      What if we changed the definition of “Christian” to “conversation and behavior that Christ would use”.  In other words, a “Christian” is someone behaving like Christ.  It would have nothing to do with self-description and everything to do with Kingdom-building conduct. 

      If this were the case, “Christianity” certainly wouldn’t get nearly as bad a rap from those who are sensible enough to know the real deal from the masked marauders.  Even more, we wouldn’t be nearly as quick to sanctify or demonize people.  Instead, we’d focus on the issue that sinful behavior is much more destructive than politically correct (or evangelically correct) labeling.


      Thanks, Brian for calling “spade” behavior just what it is—“non-Christian”.

    8. Evangelist Jeff on Wed, November 30, 2005

      What ticks me off?


      is those who think they are always right all the time.



      Those who can’t take a joke.


      Those who use these giant words, when they are insulting you.


      Those who take scripture and try to make it fit to what they believe. I think we call it out of context

      I am not using this as a crutch or an excuse, but I have Parkinson’s Disease. There have been a few days on a blog when I was snippy and I did not mean to be. It is hard on my family also, but we are learning to deal with it…


      If I have offend Christ or a brother in Christ I am sorry… Remember we all are a work in progress, and God is still working on each of us….


      Brian: Now I see why you have to work two jobs dude… Shall I have my church take up a love offering for you… Just kidding. I am a Green Bay Packer, Atlanta Braves & Falcon’s Fan, I am still a Cleveland Indian fan but may drop them… I love fishing and hunting, reading books, watching John Wayne, Humprey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Gary cooper, Henry Fonda, and Audi Murphy movies.

    9. Brian La Crox on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Dean, you said:


      ‘What if we changed the definition of “Christian” to “conversation and behavior that Christ would use”. In other words, a “Christian” is someone behaving like Christ. It would have nothing to do with self-description and everything to do with Kingdom-building conduct.’

      I reply with the words of that well-known theologian, Arthur Fonzerelli:


      “Exactamundooo.”


      You hit it on the head, buddy!


      Brian

       

    10. Brian La Croix on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Now I’m really embarrassed.

      I just realized that I misspelled my OWN NAME.  The one that appears after each post.


      I’m correcting it now.  You’d think that the caffiene would have kicked in by now…


      Brian La Croix (


      yup - that’s the right way.  I just double-checked it with my driver’s license)

    11. Wendi on Wed, November 30, 2005

      When I worked in the hospitality industry, the shift all our servers hated was Sunday afternoon – because that was when all the Christians came in after church.  Worst tip shift of the week.  Actually, shouldn’t Christians have the reputation in as the best tippers?


      One time a speaker said that when dining out, his family always waited to pray over the meal until the server introduced him/her self.  After exchanging pleasantries, dad would say, “Mary, we always offer a prayer before our meals.  Is there something we could pray for you about?”  I loved that idea (but must admit not enough to make it more than an occasional practice - confession).  Brian, as an ex-server, would that have seemed haughty or holier-than-thou or weird to your non-Christian co-workers, to the guests?  The speaker said that they’d had some very positive responses over the years (I’m assuming they left an appropriate tip).  I asked my son the server, and he said “maybe, but those people would probably think you were weird for praying anyway, so you might as well ask (nicely) and see if God does something. Then leave a good tip no matter what the response.”  I think my son’s point is, if we act nicer than, kinder than, friendlier than, the average person (in the restaurant and on the highway and at football games or golf courses, etc), it earns us the right to tell people we are Christians – then God takes it from there.

    12. Pastor Dan on Wed, November 30, 2005

      the tip thing gets me to


      if you can’t afford to to tip well then stay home!! 


      I always tip well wherever I am and when eating places where people know I am a pastor I tip even more. 


      seek to be a blessing to to others - God may use it to open doors you could never imagine.

    13. Brian La Croix on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Wendi,


      I would have been thrilled to be asked if there was anything to pray about for me, but I was already a believer then.


      Not sure how my co-workers would have responded - some would probably thought it was weird, but not holier-than-thou, others would have been fine with it.


      And yes, I think Christians should be the best tippers.  And the easiest people to serve.  Try to make the server’s job as easy as possible, ordering off the menu (without substitutions!), complimenting and thanking the server for drink refills, being polite, etc.

      And instead of leaving a tract, I sometimes hand out an “invitation card” (see Outreachmarketing.com) with contact information about the church and me, in case they would ever like to try our church.  But I only do this if there is some sort of personal rapport with the server.


      Brian

       

    14. Evangelist Jeff on Wed, November 30, 2005

      Oh yea, I thought of something that really ticks me off. A pastor friend of mine told me he needed help growing his church. He wanted to get a praise team and wanted to the youth group to grow.


      Next thing I know he was talking about me behind my back, laughing at my ideas to my face and behind my back, treated as if I was a complete idot, and shot down every idea I came up with for the youth.

      There were certain people in the church who got help when times got bad but others they would tell them to bad to sad.


      We had a church van that was to be used in picking up people who couldn’t come to church. The next thing you know you couldn’t do it unless you asked brother Joe, if you could use it or not. If brother Joe said no, then you couldn’t.


      Just like I had three youth who were sisters and their truck broke down, her husband left her, he was abusive, doing drugs, and drinking. But I was not allowed to pick up her and kids.


      I told him he did not need to grow a church what he and they needed was a Pastor/preacher. Was I to direct and harsh.

       

    15. Kent on Wed, November 30, 2005

      This one gets me,

      When a guy treats his wife like dirt around certain buddies and then maybe like a queen around her parents, all because he’s more concerned with his own reputation and what others think of him than his commitment to his wife.  Oh yeah, when people do the same with Jesus.

       

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