"Are you limping?"

This week against the advice of others because of my back, I traveled up to NE Atlanta to the Catalyst Conference. WOW! It was incredible. I'll write more about that later, I'm still trying to grasp it all and let it sink in. In fact, my prayer at the end of the last session was simple, "God, don't let me forget any of this!" So I promise to share, later. As you know, I am still limping around making the Slowskies look like Olympic sprinters (You know, the Comcast turtles). Anyway, walking to the hotel, places to eat, the conference... everywhere, I look a little odd, like I got a problem - a disc problem to be exact. The funny thing is, people don't know that. As I walked by over 11,000 people this weekend, well, more like as they walk past me, you wouldn't believe the looks I got. All of a sudden, I am seeing a little bit of what life looks like from someone with a handicap. It gave me a different perspective.

On the last day, I walked by a display table and locked eyes with the representative. I began to get the stare, then they ask me, "Are you limping?" I would have thought it was obvious, but I said, "Yeah I have a sciatic nerve pinch". At that moment I thought about all the looks and stares I was given for the past few days. I'm sure people didn't intentionally do it. Maybe it was my insecurity? It gave me a new perspective. You can tell when you give others a funny look, like something is wrong with them. You know when you do a double take or stare for a half second. When we do that, something is wrong with us. Some deep south folk say it like this, "you ain't right!". WE'RE the ones that ain't right when we stare, even for a half second. We should never make people feel insecure, like they are weird or different, even if they're "not like us". I want to look at people and see a person. I want to see a person that matters to God. I want to see how I can be Jesus to them. I want to see how I can serve them, what I can do for them (even if they're not handicaped). Why? Because people matter to Jesus. That's His agenda and I want it to be mine.