I have an old hotmail account. One I set up like 8 years ago...right before or after I turned 13. When the coolest thing you could possibly do was set up your own free e-mail address. The internet was still pretty new back 8 years ago. You could have just about any domain name you wanted. I was a hard core middle school Christ follower – and my favorite band was DC Talk. My address, ingenious: jesusfreakajk. I used the address pretty faithfully throughout my jr. high and high school years. By the time I reached college, however, it was not only antiquated but almost useless. I had no friends who e-mailed me...let alone used that address. I received a couple of subscriptions there and I had a huge storage limit holding dozens of old e-mails I didn’t have the heart to send into permanent oblivion and could have my large picture files sent there...but otherwise, I just used my school account. There was no need to pay much attention to my old hotmail address.
Except for one thing: all of the really random online accounts I hold are still set to that e-mail address. I haven’t had a good reason to switch them. This includes my half, ebay, and amazon accounts...where mostly I just buy my textbooks for ridiculously good prices but occasionally sell some of my own...in hopes being able to afford all these new books I’m buying. Not too long ago I shipped off my old statistics books to California. Without too much of a second thought I was $50 richer and I saved some poor college student nearly that much on having to buy a brand new copy by providing them with my impeccably and exceptionally maintained used books. Well, at least there was no second thought until I received an angry, embittered e-mail stating the CD (which I never used and was still in perfect, in tact condition when I sent it) was cracked – rendering the entire sale useless. What did I think I was trying to pull and what was I going to do about it?
What was I trying to pull? I didn’t send a cracked CD...nor did I mail it in anything but sufficient packaging to guarantee a safe delivery. I marked the book used – excellent, but used not new and, quite frankly, my book (complete with workbook) was a steal...regardless of an injured CD which was no where near my fault. I mean I felt bad but what I was I supposed to do? I explained this all calmly and professionally in an e-mail reply and offered my apologies as well as the internet link where I accessed the CD information when I was statistics student...advised by my professor as a much more accessible way of obtaining the same information. I even wished her a nice day.
Except, the issue wasn’t resolved. I received a second flaming angry letter from this embittered buyer. Again demanding I come up with a solution to her completely unsatisfactory purchase. I had a dilemma. I wanted to tell her to stop her whining and quite frankly, to shove it. But it was attached to an e-mail address, a label, a title which read “Jesus Freak”. Quite frankly I don’t need some hostile, inconsistent, rude college student 4000 miles away to like me. In fact, I don’t even think I want her to like me. But, anything I said and anything I did would be a reflection on the title I held. Not only on me but on the Christ I claimed and the label I maintained. There could be no inconsistency. Needless to say...I spent incredible time and prayer on my second e-mail.
I wonder, however, how often I think through that same process...and how often I should. How much more conscious I should be of labeled inconsistencies. How many times have I acted as a less-than-adequate representation of Christ while in the driver’s seat...with the outline of a fish on my car. How many times have I been impatient if not rude or condescending – even unintentionally...while wearing one of my many Christian t-shirts. For that matter...if my facebook status praises Jesus...does my homepage do the same? What about other Christians? What are we doing as a body of believers to make sure that our thoughts, actions, and lifestyle mirror the t-shirts we sport, the bracelets we wear, the bumper stickers we plaster all over our cars? Or is what the world seeing when they see “Christian” just labeled inconsistency?
No comments:
Post a Comment