Seriously! I just about had to throw down. I didn’t want to…it just happened and I was forced into a situation in which I had to make a decision.
It was at the Clemson/FSU game…and when it was close to halftime I began making my way to try to find some food. If you were at that game you know that it was REALLY crowded and, inevitably, I bumped into a rather large man in an orange Clemson shirt and said, “Hey man, sorry about that,” smiled and just kept walking.
All of a sudden I heard, “Call me SIR when you speak to me.”
I turned around and he was looking dead at me with a “go to you know where” look on his face. I looked at Jason Moorhead, my friend who was with me, and asked, “Is he talking to us?”
Before I could tell what was going on he said something else and then Jason yelled “quit drinking” at him, which I am not sure was the best thing to do because at that point he began walking towards me with a look on his face that said, “I am going to kill this guy!”
I had to make a decision…was I going to throw down with this man. I thought, “I ain’t as good as I once was….but I’m as good once as I ever was.” But then this thought hit me, “Perry—he’s wearing ORANGE, he’s a Clemson fan—you guys are pulling for the same team—WALK AWAY!”
So…I turned around and began just walking way…which caused him to say something else and actually begin walking towards me a little faster. Part of me really wanted to just let this guy have it and tell him he was acting like a kid—but—he was drunk—and I know from past experience that drunk people do not like to reason!
SO…I walked faster and simply refused to fight. I could have…and honestly, I think I would have taken him. But it just wasn’t worth it to slow down my search for food AND to spend some time in jail just to beat up a big dude who had drank about a beer or twelve.
AND believe it or not—God has used that experience to show me something about the infighting that seems to be going on within Christianity.
I have purposefully tried on this site to move away from “foolish and stupid” arguments. Sure, I will address issues from time to time…but over all I try to keep a positive tone. And I have received a lot of e-mails from people saying that they see the difference.
I am pretty much through fighting with Christians. I can’t—the Lord is showing me that, more and more, we are on the same team…AND that Christians who think they are always right and feel it is their job to discipline and correct the world are drunk…drunk on their own pride and arrogance and cannot be reasoned with.
SO…I just don’t fight that much anymore. I don’t go to other blogs to see what they are saying about me or NewSpring Church. I don’t read any mail that does not have a return address OR that is unsigned. I don’t ever read or respond to anonymous e-mails…I just can’t—there are WAY more important things to do.
NOW…I am a PIT BULL about the vision, always will be…and I, like everyone on the planet, do have hot buttons that, once they are pushed, I will address them. However, I refuse to use this site to call out other specific churches and people by name and pretend that I have all the right answers and then damn them to hell because they don’t believe exactly like me. I have been guilty of this in the past—but no more.
I don’t have time to fight…I will say what the Lord leads me to say…AND I think I will always be about offending the religious…but fighting among Christians is something I do not have time for—Matthew 16:18 is happening and I simply refuse to come down off the wall to involve myself in theological arguments that haven’t been solved in hundreds of years…and never will be!!!
NewSpring…please continue to pray for me in this area as the Lord continue to refine me and mold me into who He wants me to be!