“Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.”  Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there–he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all.  He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.  He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.”
Mark 6:4-6 (The Message Bible)

Wes. "It seems a lot of people are pointing the finger in your direction lately."
Ren. "And what have they said?"
Wes. "What I have been telling you about the trouble and the drugs and…it just seems like you’ve had a lot of problems since you’ve moved here. And I figured…"
Ren. "You figured where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right?"
Wes. "Usually works like that.”
(Quote from Footloose, 1984)

Lately, it seems I have been getting the finger pointing.  I know I do not fit in with the usual things.  Jesus definitely did not fit in his time and age.  I did not fit in at the four-year college I attended.  I tried out for various groups, I did a rush stint with the sororities on campus. Rush, which is a process of meeting and getting to know various sororities; did not make any sense and was not any fun! I got told “No!”  I tried to get on the orientation team at the college.  Again, I got told “No!”  It was all day group work and not much fun.  I even tried out for “Freshman Senator” my freshman year of college.  Again, I was forced out.  I remember gathering for a required English class, only to hear that someone else had a recommendation for Freshman Senator.   I knew I would not get the position.  It seemed like the only people the college wanted at that time, were “People Persons.”  I remember my parents telling me that they knew I was not a “People Person.”  I even tried out for an ROTC, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship.  I did not get that.  After all that hassle, I tried to focus on completing my degree. I also felt like that college was on a whole other level, and that people were talking “in code.” It was hard for me to follow conversations. It seemed other people knew how have conversations and make connections. I did not know how to “Network the system.”  I also remember at my freshman orientation overnight; the girl I was staying with was invited to the room next to mine.  I remember feeling lonely, and wondering was I going to be lonely for the next four years of college?  This was back in the 80s, before the ubiquitous cell phones.  My parents were staying in a motel.  I could not call them about the loneliness that I was already feeling at that time. I remember feeling like I was camping out during my first semester at college.

We have been doing a study of some prophets in our bible study group. We did a study on Elijah.  Some of the “take aways” from that study were, “Your trials are not failures, do not light your own fire, and pack for where you are going, not for where you are at.”  The current study we are doing now is of Jonah, the prophet who was swallowed by a whale, called, “The Interrupted Life.  The study has both a workbook and videos to watch that go with each session.  We have been requested to watch the videos ahead of each session, because of the length.  We have been using the allotted time of an hour for just discussion.  It must have seemed at times that Jesus was often heard talking “in code.”  He used parables, which are “simple stories used to illustrate a moral or specific lessons.”   It is hard when people’s actions or tones do not match what they are intending to communicate.  The communication lines can also get crossed with the intenseness of their tones and words.  When some people are trying to make a point with their conversation and things get intense, the tones or pitch of things can escalate and even come across as yelling.  My bible study group is respectful of each other when taking turns to discuss the topic of the particular session for the week.  Communicating with the right tones and words can go a long way.  Jesus was persistent with his parables.  We need to be persistent in how we communicate or do not communicate with others.  Proper communication is so important!

It seems I am still learning “the code” of communication in Life. Carry on and take care!

Many blessings,
-- Marci

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