(Original Post) Life offers us choices. Below are three real life situations, each demonstrating the response of two persons. Consider what your response would be to each situation, if it would match one of the responder’s choices or if your choice would fall somewhere on the spectrum between their choices. Comment on the situations by clicking on the title of the post, scrolling to the end of the piece and filling in the comment box. Don’t forget to hit “POST” when finished! Story #1: The youth sat in the church pew in his preferred air-conditioned sneakers, old faded jeans with tears in the knees and elsewhere and a ragged, holey white tee shirt. He was freshly showered and the clothes smelled of fresh laundry detergent. At offering time the volunteers were short one person. The youth, noticing this, jumped up to join the finely suited elders of the church who were taking the offering. After church, the pastor was approached by two men---both solid, active church workers. The first man offered his resignation as a volunteer to collect the offering, citing his distress over the unkempt youth that had assisted him that morning. The second man approaching the pastor told him to take the youth out to purchase two pair of jeans and two shirts. He would give the pastor his credit card to pay for them. Shortly after the youth left the church to reenter the drug subculture from whence he had come. Story #2: As people passed by Annette, who was sitting on the bench in the mall, they observed her feeding an infant. Amidst the crowd was a mother with a child about three years old. She abruptly pulled her child away, and Annette could hear her comment: “Isn’t it disgusting?” Shortly thereafter, the infant satisfied, Annette arose with the baby, named Susie. As she moved on to continue her shopping another woman directed her child’s attention to Susie and joyfully said, “Isn’t that baby cute?” Susie, a black baby, is no longer with Annette, her white foster mother. Susie’s biological mom was soon able to care for her. But Annette never forgot these two responses that occurred within fifteen minutes of each other. Story #3: The cement parking lot at the church was several hundred feet long and over half of it was about fifty feet wide. Week after week the youth raced his proudly acquired mini-cycle a thousand feet through the woods that separated his troubled home from the church parking lot. The noise interrupted the church service, and sometimes the elderly pastor’s rest time. The cycle also left tracks in the parsonage and church yards. The pastor properly chastised the youth and peace was restored to him and the church people. Shortly thereafter, when a new pastor was assigned to this church, the youth began anew his mini-bike riding. The noise was disruptive, the property damage redone. The new pastor decided to befriend the youth. He met him in the parking lot one day and explained the problem, provided appropriate and acceptable guidelines for riding the mini-bike in the parking lot. He welcomed the youth and treated him as a worthy human being. Gradually, the young man became involved in two years of church participation. Eventually his three younger sisters also found a home at the church, and brought some of their friends with them. I don’t know if he attends church services today. Don’t forget to respond by clicking on the title, scrolling down and typing your comment in the box provided. And don’t forget to hit “POST” when you finish!
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