The First Time I Met You I Hated Your Guts!

The preacher was standing tall telling the story of how he came to know and love one of his customers at his job during the week.  After six months of coming into her store, she finally said to him "when I first met you, I hated your guts".  He responded, "yes, I know".  But he was there to do a job, and he did it.  The customer said she hated him because she thought "nobody can be THAT nice".  He never said a cross word to her and he always smiled while doing his work.  For six months this went on.  She then realized how wrong she was. It took six months? To find out a guy is actually a reasonably good guy?

I have people tell me quite frequently what a nice guy I am.  To myself I often think just the opposite.  I jokingly say, "please don't tell anyone, I have a reputation to maintain".  I'll be honest, a lot of things get to me and really piss me off.  Just me saying that will piss some people off because they don't approve of the word 'piss'.  And for that reason, they will not like me anymore after reading this.  I have not fit into their religiosity. They think it is vulgar.  They are quick to point out what is wrong with others, and to me?  That is an indicator of extreme insecurity. But in my defense, I'm really not that nice of a guy.  In fact, if I look at what the Bible has to say, it says the heart of man is uncontrollably evil.

Take political ads for example.  Each candidate boasts of their insecurities by the attacks they make on the opposing candidates.  The side that is the most negative and smearing is the most insecure, and usually wins the race.  They drive their campaigns by hate.  They want the public to be so mad at the other candidate that they want to spit nails.

Then there is the church, in general. They have taken it upon themselves to dissect what sin is or isn't.  In their efforts to portray the Love of God in Christ, they have invited hate upon themselves. I am not talking only about the right wingnuts of the church either. They exist far to the left as well.

Now there are groups that are saying quite clearly that "if you don't agree with me, you are driven by hate".  And those groups are also to the right and to the left.

So, go ahead, hate me. I might not be a nice guy, but I choose to love everyone. But that does not mean I like everyone.  Some people will still call me a hater. That is because they hate themselves.