Saturday, April 28, 2012

30 Day Challenge - Day 18: Someone You Met Randomly That Impacted Your Life

Once again, Blogger's scheduling feature decided not to work with me.  I'm going to report this and see if next week goes a little better.  Sorry about the delay!

Now, some of my lovely readers have different religious and political views.  That's to be expected, since I have around 60 GFC followers, 20 Networked Blogs followers, and 15 email subscribers - plus 36 Facebook likes.  I personally believe that homosexuality is sinful and unbiblical.  However, I believe that we should "love the sinner and hate the sin."
Time for today's story.  Back when I lived in Okinawa, I went to the library frequently - at least once a week - and checked out literally as many books as I could carry.  One day I needed a nonfiction book report, so I decided to check out the writing how-to books.  This particular shelf was on one side of the little tables and chairs spread through the library, and a girl was there with her mother writing a research paper at the table.  She wore a black, long sleeved, button-down shirt and black pants.  (It was spring on a tropical island, people. I started sweating just looking at her.)  Her hair was medium-long, straight, and brown.


She and her mother were apparently big bookworms and they started up a conversation with me - turns out the girl's name was Bug.  When they found out what I was doing, they started offering suggestions.  (I was thoroughly impressed, because some of their favorites were things I considered a little too deep/thick for me, and I was already beyond the average reading capacity of my age.)

It was cool, and I really liked them.  I didn't think anything of it until later, hanging with some friends of mine, I told them about Bug and her mom.  Apparently, two of my friends had gone to school with her at the last place they lived.  They told me she was a lesbian and they seemed to have an odd opinion of her.  I was surprised but still thought Bug was nice.

Actually, I saw Bug one more time.  Turns out she was the next-door neighbor of a family from my church - she was cleaning her family's van when I was babysitting.  We discussed out mutual disgust of spiders, and that was the last time I saw her.

Bug taught me the real meaning behind the phrase "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Because I met a lesbian and didn't even know she was one - because I met a girl I thought was cool and would be a nice friend - I learned a lesson.  I've always known that those people that commit the "big sins" are real people with dreams, hurts, favorite colors, and phobias.  But not until I met a lesbian with a love of books and a disgust of spiders did that truth have an affect on me personally.

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