Koinos Community Church - The Latest v02.05

The Latest v02.05

Last week I killed a bird and a rabbit. The bird wasn't really my fault. I was just cleaning up somebody else's mess. The rabbit? Okay. That was my bad.

The Bird. It happened on a semi-rural stretch of Lancaster County. I was heading to a meeting with the BIC, 50 MPH or so, listening to a little Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio. Glancing at the opposing lane, I noticed a mass clumped in the middle of the lane with a single wing fluttering in the air. Figuring it was an injured fowl, I turned around in a gravel driveway and went back to crush it. Missing it, I took a second pass.

Feathers floating up in the rearview mirror assured I hit the target.

The Rabbit. The incident took place in West Lawn, eastward bound on 422. My lights reflected the optical lense of a furry creature only fifteen feet before me. I slowed and served, and yet the Dodge Caravan bounced on the driver-side, sounding like someone thumped a drum twice. Again I made a second pass. The road stew assured me the bunny was no longer with us.

I do like animals.

I re-counted these macabre tales a few days later on the way to t-ball practice. Steph made it clear she didn't intend to listen. Head lowered, eyes shut, hands over ears. I stopped with the details.

I do like animals. I always enjoyed having pets as a kid. I am not too proud to let a Golden Retriever lick my face. I have never been hunting. (Unless you count b-b guns and squirrels and Doves, but that was just an awkward pre-pubescent phase. Fellas, remember?) I often calm my family's shrieks over a spider, not with the sole of my Nikes, but with a paper towel and a gentle trip to be let out in the front yard.

But sometimes you've gotta do what you gotta do.

As all parents know, there is a big difference between sentimentality and love. The former is often shallow emotion, smiles, talking soothingly. Love is doing what is best for someone. Sometimes they feel good about it, sometimes they do not. But love is committed to what's best, not always what's immediately pleasant.

I think I did the loving thing for our friends the bird and the rabbit. Let them suffer slowly? Wait on a dreaded cat to arrive? One should never let a cat enjoy itself. I was a concerned driver.

If you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, you know we are called to be the people that love others, that love the world in general, more than our own comfort. We seek the best for everyone. We give up time to care. Occasionally, we give up being liked right now, to help people discover the freedom of truth in the long run.

Of course we are called to be kind and sensitive and understanding. You cannot love someone without an abundance of these skills. Truth without grace is not truth. It's just ideology. Truth is relational. Love is living and acting and thinking, and at times, speaking what is best.

We work hard at Koinos to be a community that is committed to love. We want to be people who are skilled in kindness, sensitivity, and understanding. If we are novices with these essential skills, we do not have the One who is Truth. But that does not mean that everyone will always feel good about us, enjoying everything we say and do. If they do, we probably do not have love. We are nothing.

I am selfish more often than I want to be. I can be a people-pleaser who is not saying and doing what's best for others. I can, at times, speak concepts without being kind. I can exist on empty, without love. But I want to seek a better way.

When others see roadkill, I see my attempt at caring for animals.

When was the last time you made a U-turn?

Love you all! Have a great weekend!

Brian

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