"The only thing you need now is Jesus"

My husband works at a factory with many people from many different parts of the world. Oddly enough, many of them are also Born Again in a big fat way. (One man had his own evangelical show on the local cable network for awhile, another had the name God's Will.)

For years people were afraid of my husband because, well, he proudly wears his ankh and pentagram every day, and dresses in black T-shirts with designs like dragons and skeletons. They thought he was a witch/warlock and it appears people at the company are plenty superstitious.

I've bought him some brown and green T-shirts since then. One even has a lotus design on it. A bit of a push from my Buddhist interests.

So anyway, last night at work he's talking with a few of his co-workers about his vacation last week. There's not a lot of money to go around in our household, so his vacation was spent hanging around the house, waiting for me to get home from work. Though on Tuesday, our anniversary (yes, October 31 for those trying to figure out what last week was) he did cook me a nice dinner. Fresh salad with apples and walnuts, herbed chicken, and roasted red potatoes. Yum.
So he told his co-workers that he spent his vacation hanging around with his wife. And on this Friday, the Veteran's Day holiday, he was going to spend it with me again; go to the sea coast and a gaming store.

(This is paraphrased here) "You have a good marriage and a good wife," said one of his co-workers. "The only thing you need now is Jesus." Then he invited my husband and myself to Sunday service.

(It's a good thing my husband came in and told me this story. I didn't know what I was going to write about till he told me this.)

We don't go around telling people to become Pagan, or to start meditating; because, y'know, without that life is just missing something elemental. Their lives must be empty without it; devoid of meaning.

I can totally understand wanting to share happiness with others, or a successful life plan. But the instant you start assuming that someone else lives less than a full life because they DON'T embrace the same happiness or life plan, you've crossed the line into delusion.

Make no mistake, I'm touched that this man obviously thinks enough of us in whatever way to try and bring us into the fold. But you can't tell me he hasn't noticed my husband's symbols, or perhaps heard some of the scuttlebut around the factory. I'd hate to think that he just feels a need to save us.

(An old friend of my husband attends the Baptist church that we live above. On day he started telling my husband about how we're all sinners. A belief that neither of us holds any stock in for very strong reasons.)

I will remain a sinner in the eyes of men. Unborn to the glory of Jesus. I know what makes me a good person, and that I wish no ill upon others. I work every day at compassion, but I've rushed to judgement, I've flipped people off on the highway when they drive like asshats. (Not where they can see. Road rage is a scary thing.) Accepting Jesus isn't going to make the day-to-day any more of a spiritual adventure than it already is.