Lady Gaga Does

At our Thursday morning Free Store conversation our friend George Dunn led us in a discussion on 1 Corinthians 13.  But before we  jumped into the conversation we asked him about his recent vacation to Topsail Island and were informed that it was great but he didn't go in the water "because my wife was afraid of the Bull Shark" which made us laugh.  He also told us that if "you meet a girl looking for a husband she's obviously never had one" which seemed to especially amuse the ladies.

George started our discussion with a quote from Mother Teresa, "It has nothing to do with the size of the deed but everything to do with the size of the love."  He said that without love even the highest human achievements were insignificant.  George referred to "low impact Christianity" that is "like General Motors but not run as well" which made us laugh.  He said that the church needs more love and less corporate efficiency.  George told us that Jesus is ultimately a threat to every religious system because he advocated love which is not a "pay for performance" formula.  He said that God's love involves both grace and mercy.  Mercy is when you don't get the punishment that you deserve and grace is when you get what you haven't earned.

As the conversation continued George said that there are different kinds of love.  He mentioned Eros and asked if "anybody knew what that is?"  After a short, awkward pause he said, "Lady Gaga does" which made us laugh.  George said that agape was a type of love that never gives up on people no matter how they behave.  Such love would never say, "I bought you flowers on Friday why are you acting like such a bitch today?"  He said, "My brother used to visit me and would steal my checks to support his drug habit.  I still love him but now lock up my checks when he visits" which made us laugh.

At this point one of our friends asked, "Why does God put you in difficult circumstances?"  And our new friend Jeff said, "I've heard that God won't give us more than we can handle but I'd like to know who decides what is enough?"  Someone said that the "why" questions are always the hardest and that we don't always have good answers but that sometimes as we look back on the hard times things make more sense.  He also thanked our friends for asking the tough questions. 

As the conversation moved to its conclusion our new friend Chris said that even though things don't work out the real question is, "Am I gonna serve God to the end?"  George said, "I've seen God work good out of bad stuff."  He went on to tell us about a time that he "got the .410 gauge shotgun out and put it in my mouth."  With tears in his eyes he said, "although I haven't had one before or since I had a vision of myself laying in the casket and my son Jeremy crying and I just couldn't do it."  Our friend David said that he had been struggling and living in a men's shelter the past couple of years but he believed that regardless of circumstances he was "gonna be a winner either way."  Finally, our new friend Ron said, "I understand people are searching for answers.  But it's important to understand that God has nothing to do with sin.  Sometimes we get in a bad situation by our own bad decisions but not always.  No matter how hard things can be God will see you through."