Safty first

A long time ago, I was enlisted in the US Navy. On my first ship, the USS Guam (LPH-9), I worked in the engine room under somebody named MM1 Lugert. Lugert was much older than us new kids, and looked a little like pale beef jerky, but he couldn't spell. He was mocked unmercifully for that, and I'm sorry to say I mocked more than most.

One day Lugert decided to have some signs made that said "SAFETY FIRST". He got what he asked for, but because he was a terrible speller he asked for signs that read "SAFTY FIRST. Now he was made fun of and had a dozen highly-visible signs that told people to make safty their top priority.

The thing is, though, we still got it. We understood what he was trying to say. The message, though garbled by Lugert, still came through. Just like in Christianity, he said, transitioning crudely.

There  are professing Christians I wish would just be quiet. There are people I wish weren't in my congregation. That's fair, because I'm sure there are plenty of people who wish I'd shut up and get out of their congregation. It's the way things are, unfortunately.

The good thing is that the truth of the Gospel isn't dependent upon the person carrying it. Rejecting Christianity because of Christians is like refusing to fish because some people are bad at it. Now, I've heard a lot of reasons for not fishing, and I don't do it myself, but I've never heard that one, though people have always loved to tell me that they won't go to church because when they did it was full of hypocrites.

If you're one of those people, I have some great news for you: you're absolutely right. The church is full of hypocrites. But it gets even better. You see, even though we have so many, there's always room for one more.

After all, we're talking about your eternal safty.