Tonight in service I was thinking about the night-and-day difference between our God and Islam, and also some other religious ways of thinking.  What brought this on was I was thinking about one of the guys who's been coming to the services pretty faithfully for a couple months or so.  He's kind of slow--not dumb by any means, but it takes him a while to process things, he speaks very deliberately, and is just... slow.  His First Sergeant has had a couple occasions to talk with Travis, and recently he said that he's noticed that this soldier has been spending a lot of time at church and he just wanted to make sure that he wasn't being taken advantage of because, well, he isn't exactly quick-witted.  So the other night Travis had gone up to visit this soldier and the entire unit was still in uniform having a GI party (a massive scrub-down of the barracks because they didn't pass inspection.)  And so he got to talk to the First Sergeant face-to-face.  The First Sergeant was so glad to meet Travis finally and talk with him that Travis is now the only visitor allowed in the barracks.  (Since they are being punished, no one is allowed to have any visitors.) 

So anyway, back to Islam.  During the preaching, I got to thinking about how God takes the rejected, put-down, outcast, etc., and lifts them up, makes them worth something.  I was thinking about this soldier and how I'm sure he's been picked on his whole life.  Then I got to thinking about the rest of us there, and you know what?  We were all a bunch of rejected, messed up, messed over individuals.  Then the scripture came to mind about how God said to go out into the highways and hedges, and to bring in the rejects because the people he'd chosen to come to his feast weren't interested.

Then I got to thinking about an article I saw in the current Newsweek about Shiite death cults.  The accompanying picture was of followers who had cut their shaven heads and had blood running down them.  I recalled a picture I'd seen before of a Muslim father with his scared son, knife in hand, ready to make a long cut down his son's head so he could identify with Mohammed's pain.  Then I got to thinking about an interview I'd heard with a man who was well-acquainted with the Muslim world, although I can't remember what office he held.  He said that a lot of the suicide bombers are the rejects of society--especially gays or those who have to atone somehow for something they did or are.  They're told that if they want to redeem themselves, that's one way to do it.  And so they do.

What a contrast.  How sad.  I thank God that he is a God of second chances, and HE is the one who paid the price for it.  I thank God that he is a God who operates on love and righteousness.  I don't have to physically or mentally beat myself to make atonement for anything.  In fact, he says to stop doing that.

I can't understand anyone who wouldn't want that, and will find every excuse in the world, every knit-picky thread of doubt so they can continue to wallow in their weak, sad-sack state.  You can have it.  Paul said that we are more than conquerers.  I guess if you're not a disciple of Christ, you're less than a loser.

So here's this soldier, with his heart like a child's, willing to seek God and serve Him and love Him no matter what.  And God is going to take that kid who's been told he's a loser all his life and make him more than he's ever dreamed.