I'm Still Human

A lot of times, people see the preacher and think of him as more than a Christian, a super Christian, someone who only focuses himself on things people might consider "preacherly things." The thing is, preachers are Christians just like everyone else and actually like different things. I figured I'd just share some things that I currently like.

  

I'm a big music person and my tastes are very eclectic. You give me almost any style of music and enough time and I'll find a song I like. There are plenty of other things about me that make up my sweet style.

I'm weird. I've come to accept that. I'm fine with that. It isn't the, "Wow, stay away from that guy" type of weird (at least I hope not), but I'm weird. You'd have to spend more time with me though to really get an understanding of it.

I'm very shy. Most people might find this hard to believe, and it's more in unfamiliar settings. If it's at an event in which Christians are involved I'm more open, but can still be a bit shy. For example, I was once at a birthday party for a friend's son, but other than my own family, I knew one or two people out of the thirty-ish people there. I was quiet and withdrawn pretty much the whole time.

I'm a nerd. I like computers, video games and technology in general. I like cartoons and comics from Japan. I like sci-fi and fantasy stuff. I also enjoy grammar. I've studied grammar. I always try to type and text with proper sentence structure. I  even bought Ben a lightsaber today to start to indoctrinate him with a love for Star Wars. See?


I'm also an outdoorsy person, though I haven't really been able to manifest that side in me in a while. I like hiking and camping. I spent two weeks for two summers (four weeks in all) hiking through New Mexico and then Montana. I'd really like to be able and go and do that again sometime, just to see all of the sights again. I enjoy canoeing and kayaking, except that they don't make kayaks long enough for me that are of any cheap price.

I'm not a "cars guy." I don't really know how they work, and I'm not that great at fixing anything on them. I know a few things here and there, the basics, but that's about it. I don't care a thing about sports cars or anything fancy. I'm also not that big into sports. I can watch and appreciate most sports, but I don't really care one way or another. I'm still nice enough to let my son be sporty if he wants too.



I am a very political person. I enjoy discussing and studying politics. I do my best to keep politics separate from religion unless it's an area where the two combine, but I do think one failure of the church is making it into more of a political party than a spiritual haven. I suppose if I had to classify myself politically then I would be a conservative libertarian, though leaning much more towards the libertarian side of things.

I'm a cynical optimist. It seems a bit contradictory, and it really is. It's constantly a battle, and thankfully the optimism wins out the vast majority of the time, yet many times I can still become very disappointed with society, and even with the church, to the point where I can only think pessimistically about it all.

Finally I'm a dreamer. A day dreamer, a night dreamer, an all the time dreamer. I have some of the strangest dreams I know of, but I wouldn't want them to go away. I usually have to listen to music while I go to sleep or else I'll replay all of the events of my day, week, month, year, life over in my head and wonder what would have happened if I had handled it differently. It's part of my personality (INFP) and it's fun, but can be annoying when I try to sleep.

That's a lot of off the wall info, but it's just how I roll, ya know? Quite often I see preachers get frustrated with the work they do because people forget they are human just like everyone else. They have likes and dislikes. They have quirks that others might find weird, or might find common ground upon. They have struggles with their emotions, thoughts and other things. When people make a preacher some holy position above everyone else, it doesn't encourage them as much as it alienates them. How are they supposed to relate to people and be open about their struggles when they are quickly perceived as those who have one of the easiest spiritual lives due to their knowledge of the word and dedication to preach it. In all reality, the preacher is a Christian like everyone else who uses his specific abilities and talents to help the kingdom of God.