Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the other side. At first, I wonder if the other side thinks about me. Probably not. But it does not stop me from trying to understand the other side. Who is the other side you might wonder? We all have them. Those people we have ideas about or those people that we have encountered at some point, yet no longer encounter ever... The other side... Severance with groups of people have always disturbed me. They come with relationship breaks, fights, deaths, and even births. They come with differencing views on civil rights, politics, theologies, morals, and ethics. The other side. One might argue life changes, people change and I can agree, but it seems our views of self inflicted ME FIRST mentality usually is the root cause of the creation of The Other Side. We try to fit people in our box of thought, actions, and beliefs then yet cannot see just the simple pure value of the life on the other side. Sad really how shallow we can be. We hold grudges to the grave, never trying to mend. All the while, we wave banners of Christian, Good People as we taunt the other side with the ME FIRST mentality.
Today, I began to read about a man that was homeless, full of poverty in all aspects of his life. He depended on hand outs for income. When he was hungry he would eat raw foods. He was ridiculed mostly by those that seemly had it all together. Those driven by the ME FIRST mentality. Some people thought he had mental health issues and believed he was a lunatic. The end of his life was very tragic. Basically, he was accused of a crime he never committed. Witnesses were hired to lie to say, "He did it." The jury was rigged. He had a dirty judge that needed some political gain. In the end he was handed the death penalty. What would have happened if people got to know the other side...Would his life ended the way it did? What if the other side had love to give? Wisdom to give in-spite of his different quirky ways. What if.... what if.... what if.... My new purpose to engage and know the other side, whatever that may be, and to respect the life that is there.
The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians, "I want to know Christ and the power that raised him from the dead." Most of us like to refer to the other side as, 'dead to us.' What if, what was dead to us was raised? What would it take? Power? What is this power that Paul speaks of... my only conclusion can be love. Love that reaches to the other side. Paul goes onto say, "...forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Guess its not about me after all. It is love straining to reach forward the other side of what lies ahead.
The homeless man that I read about today, did that. Actually, that was the root reason they killed him. He reached into the other side and changed the world as we know it. He changed our culture, society, and belief system. Whether we believe or not the story of him he changed the world. It happened by loving the other side. No matter your thoughts of real events, or faith based beliefs Jesus has made his name known. A homeless man, who borrowed beds, mostly slept on dirt, who never thought of himself, yet valued the other side. Even when they did not think about him, Jesus changed/and made history...in its simplest form...all for the other side.
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