Weird

weird (wîrd) adj., weird·er, weird·est.
1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of the preternatural or supernatural.
2. Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange.


1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light..."


Thank God for weird.

In church this morning, during the worship time, I looked around at some of the people that were there. I looked at the men I have fellowshipped with, worshipped with, sometimes fought with, cried with, and rejoiced with for about the last 15 years. Something struck me as I looked at these guys I’ve been with all these years. We’re heavier now; older, grayer…But God is still changing us and molding us.
These are guys I have known most of my Christian life, and will probably know for the rest of my life – the ones I’ll know in eternity. These are the very guys I’ve encouraged at times, and most often been encouraged by. We’ve shared a lot together. I’ve been humbled by them, lifted up by them, laughed with them, and cried with them. None of us is perfect. In fact, we’re all pretty much weird – stranger than most, each in our own ways. I had to thank God for the weirdness we’ve shared

My friend, Matt, over at From the Morning, shared about being weird. He was wishing we were all a little less guarded at church, and a little more WYSIWYG. I’m glad for our small fellowship of home church folks. It’s really hard to hide behind a Sunday smile when we’re all facing each other in someone’s living room. (Not impossible, just harder…) I know if one of us doesn’t show up for whatever reason, we’ve got someone calling or knocking on the door that afternoon, just to check up.
I relayed to them my thoughts about weird this morning, and how God chose a bunch of us weirdoes to fellowship together. Here’s what I shared in the comments of Matt’s post:

Weird is 2 fishermen throwing down thier nets (and their livelihood) to follow a carpenter from Nazareth. Weird is that the religious culture, who knew the scriptures better than anyone, rejected the Messiah, when he was there among them. Weird is an upright and zealous Jew; a scholar, who persecuted the followers of Christ, suddenly make a turnaround and become one of them.
Weird was Jesus choosing to be in the company of the most hated and rejected of society: the tax-collectors, prostitutes, and the non-religious. And it was certainly weird that the Lord of Lords, who could have called down legions of angels to destroy those that persecuted Him, chose to suffer the most horrible death of crucifixion to fulfill God's redemption of sinful man.
And, yes, it was weird that a 25 year-old, pot-smoking, alcoholic dickhead chose 23 years ago to accept God's forgiveness for my sins and follow Him.

Yeah, I said “dickhead,” to use Matt’s description…it just seems to fit. I just remember what I was like before God got hold of me. And I know what I can still be like, were it not for His grace.