Tolerance is a cop out.

A friend of mine shared an incident where his son shared certain cornerstones of the Christian faith with a friend at school. When my friend received the phone call, the word “tolerance” came up.

My friend responded with “Tolerance is a cop out.”

Crickets on the other side of the phone.

He went on to explain “Tolerance means that I can tolerate what you say, but still hate your guts.” Jesus’ teachings went way beyond tolerance. He instructed us to “Love our Neighbors in the very same way we love ourselves.”

Strive to move beyond tolerating your neighbor: love ‘em.

An American Hero

I apologize for reposting this obituary, but this hits really close to home.

Navy SEAL Chief (SOC) Adam Brown was killed in action in Komar Province, Afghanistan on March 16, 2010.  In true “Adam Brown Style” he died a true hero, placing himself in the line of fire to protect other members of his unit.  Adam’s Special Ops Assault Team was assaulting an enemy compound, an operation Adam had performed many times.  The U.S. Forces were engaging the enemy in a fire fight, when a portion of the U.S. soldiers were pinned down by very heavy fire from the enemy compound.   In an effort to protect his men, Adam charged the enemy and was firing on the enemy from a better vantage point, drawing fire away from his pinned down comrades.  His selfless action relieved the fire on his men, but it unfortunately resulted in Adam being struck by enemy fire.  One other member of the American Team was wounded, but Adam’s heroic action saved the other men.  The enemy compound was captured and all enemy combatants were killed in the action.

 

Adam was a 12 year veteran of the United States Navy, with several tours of duty overseas.  He is survived by his wife and two children.

Source

I first met Adam when he and his wife took our Financial Peace class. He was a small group leader and a shining light of Jesus on his team.

My heart aches over this.

Embarrassing Moment

I like to take a break at lunch and get away from the office. For several years, I have scooted over to the nearby Barnes and Nobles to enjoy a cup of coffee and a quick read.

What irritates me, however, is people who talk loudly on cell phones. It never fails that when I score a comfy chair, someone in the chair next to me makes a call and talks. Sure, it’s America, and I take the high road and just grin and bear it.

(I am very tempted to get another chair and sit directly in front of them and stare slightly to their left…when they ask what, I’ll just say “I’m thinking”).

Today I brought my laptop into the cafe and pulled out my ear plugs. Believe it or not, my favorite white noise is bird song. So, plugging in, I lost myself in nature’s melody.

But something was wrong, it was really soft, so I turned it up. still a little soft…oh there it is…another volume control on the media player. There we go…cranked up nice and high.

I dig into whatever I was reading and about ten or fifteen minutes pass by when I feel a tap at my shoulder. Looking up, I see my good friend and co-worker Laura pointing at the volume control. I take my earphones out to say “Hi” when I realize that I had plugged my earbuds into the microphone jack.

Who is the obnoxious guy now!?