I have been officially retired since 2023, but I still work at a part time job. I know, that if I don’t stay busy, I will become lazy and unmotivated. So work gives me the motivation to keep me moving.

I work 18 to 24 hours a week for a security company that is contracted to a big box store. My part time security job requires me to patrol the parking lot, keeping the fire lane clear of parked or idling vehicles. It also includes, letting truck drivers and rv’ers that come into the lot, that the store will not allow overnight parking.

I am an introvert, a person who rather be by themselves, then be in a crowd with others. Introverts are very quiet, keep to themselves, and generally, very hard to get to know. Having a security job, and dealing with the public, is usually not a good job for an introvert to have. However, my wife is an exact opposite of my self. She loves to entertain. She enjoys being around and interacting with others. So after 30 + years of marriage, you do learn to be a little more social as an introvert.

In my security work, I will come across 2 different types of people.

First type:  People who are generally nice. They are the ones that listen, understand and usually won’t try and challenge you. They will apologize for their action(s) and move on.

The second type: These are the people, who gripe, get upset, take advantage, and in most cases, will challenge you with every word spoken. They will not move on, because they think they have the right to be there.

When I have to drive up on someone, usually it is not going to be to just a friendly chat. I am most likely have to ask you to do something that will inconvenience you or make your visit a little more difficult.

The first group of people, are mostly law abiding people. They won’t argue, they are polite, they are responsive, and they will immediately comply to the your request. They know what they are  doing is against regulations or against the law, but they are hoping to get away with it just this one time. But if they get caught, they know they were in the wrong, and gladly try to make it right, without causing any issues.

The second group of people, think they are just entitled to do whatever they want, when they want to do it, and you should be just happy, that you are allowed to be in their world. These are the people that are the hardest to deal with. If you ask them nicely to move their vehicle from parking or sitting in a fire lane, some of them will say, they are only going to be their for a few minutes and then expect you to leave them alone, and let them sit there. Others will get very angry, not say anything and comply. Yet some, will scream and holler or try to justify why they are breaking the law and call you names and swear at you, but in the end, they to will comply with your request. Then you have the ones, that will refuse any instruction from you, they will either totally ignore you, or will tell you flat out, they are not going to comply, challenging you to do something about it.

When I stop and look at myself, I often ask the question, what type of person am I?

Am I the person that thinks I’m entitled to do what I want and when I want to do it. Do I scream and holler and ignore instructions? Do I just flat out refuse to do the right thing?

Or

Am I the person who tries to obey the law? Do I treat others with respect? Am I polite, do I accept who you are, do I apologize when I am in the wrong? Am I willing  to forgive even though I may have been deeply hurt?

It’s really unfortunate, that there are many Christians that are the second type of people. They are the ones that make it hard for non-believers to see the love and grace of God. Apostle Paul, talks about these type of people in the New testament, as being scribes and pharisees. They boast about themselves, making sure other people know their status as something to be desired.

God calls on us to be seperate of the world, even though we are in the world. He wants us to be and outward example of his love and grace. That same love and grace he gives to us. God has given each Christian a mission to accomplish. That mission is to seek unbelievers, and show them the love and grace of our Father, who can then save them from the eternal hell, and give them joy of everlasting life.

I don’t understand how you can even be a second kind of Christian. By all means, I am not judging them, but how can you be angry, how can you be defiant, how can you say you love God, but do the things the God hates?

Living a Christian life in a Wayward world is hard. It takes an everyday commitment to be better then the day before. It requires us to love people we don’t want anything to do with. It requires us to read and know His word. We need to think about only good things. We need to forgive and forget, as God has done for us.

When the day of the trumpet sounds, when we finally get to see our Heavenly Father face to face, what will he say to us? He is going to say, “well done my faithful child” or “I never knew you, leave my presence”

I sincerely hope that you are in the first group. We are not perfect, but we are made pure by the cover of Christ blood that was shed on the cross for every sin. So by the blood we are made perfect, without sin, and we may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Only real joy and peace, comes from our Savior Jesus Christ. Without Christ, we will be lost forever.