Ok, so I was reading a blog, and it was an article on Steven Baldwin’s activities to “cool up” Christianity.  The article is found here….and you need to read it before you read my post.

Here’s the thing….at first I was all “you gotta’ be kidding me, this is stupid, Christianity will never be cool”, etc.  My usual tirade.  But then I started really thinking about it…about how Jesus would react to my reaction (so to speak).  So I wrote a little story.  Enjoy.

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John and another disciple were out of breath when they finally found Jesus.  They stood before him, huffing to get air into thier lungs after what appeared to be a long run.

“Jesus….puff, puff….we….did something….huff…..for you.” said one of the disciples.

“Yeah!” exclaimed John, bending over and holding his side, “we….fixed a real……problem!”

Jesus squinted his eyes, and let slip a barely perceptible “yikes” through his lips.

“What?”

“Nothing,” said Jesus, “what problem did you fix?” he said, making quotation marks in the air at his last word.

“We found this guy…and he was setting people free from the devil, but he wasn’t one of us!  He was using strange terms, like gnarly and awesome…and we knew those weren’t words that we use.” said the one disciple, his face aflush.

“Yeah…and they had skateboards and ramps and….well….what in the world does that have to do with what we’re doing?  Anyway, he’s not one of us, so I told him to knock it off!” John said, with a flourish of his hand.

“You told him what?” asked Jesus, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I told him that in order to use your name, he had to be like us, and part of our group, using our words and our approved methodology.” John was beaming.

Jesus groaned, and began rubbing his temples. “Guys….John…you can’t do that.  John, what did you say this guy was doing in my name?”

“Trying to set people free from bondage to evil…but don’t worry Jesus, we made him stop!”

“Were people being set free John?”

“Well…yeah, I guess, but that’s not the point, is it?  He isn’t one of us!  He was doing stuff that we should get to do, we’re the ones who’ve made the sacrifices to follow you.  Who does this guy think he is, just coming on the scene and doing things like he was part of your plan?”

Jesus took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.  “How much evil do you think there is in the world, John?”

“I don’t know….lots?”

“Yes John, lots.  Do you think there won’t be enough evil left for you to fight against if this guy fights evil too?  There is plenty of evil to go around John.  There are plenty of demons to cast out, everyone will have more than their fair share of work to do, you don’t have to worry about that.  John, those who use my name for good are not your enemy.  You only have one enemy, and this guy aint him.  Do you understand what I’m saying?”

John had the look of someone who was slowly coming awake.  His head began to slowly nod, like an engine starting to chug and a smile emerged on his face.  “I get it Jesus!  You want us to go and make him one of US!  C’mon guys, lets go get this guy!”

The disciples raced off down the road, arguing about who would be in charge of training the new guy.

Jesus called out after them, waving his hands for them to listen to him, “He who is not against us in ON our side!”.  But the disciples couldn’t hear him.

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You can read the real story in Mark 9:38-40