Clay in the Hands

Today, I have the privilege of speaking at the funeral of a man who has been larger than life here in Corpus Christi – a successful business man and entrepreneur – a philanthropist and generous supporter of the community.

I had the opportunity to meet Dusty Durrill a couple of months ago.  He knew his days were becoming limited and he wanted to find peace with God.  He admitted to me that he had never doubted the existence of God, but he had not followed him with his life.  In fact, he had never had much use for religion and the church.

I appreciated his honesty and authenticity.  But through our conversation, after he had grilled me as to my intentions, he found his peace with God and that is a morning  I will never forget.

But as I have reflected on his life and his story – I have become more and more convicted and concerned.  How many other people have that story and that perception of the church?  I wish I could say the perception of the church being filled with hypocrites is a false perception.  But sadly, just being honest, it is not.

Now before you stop reading, let me say, there is not a place on earth that is not filled with hypocrites.  If there are people – there are hypocrites.  So to shun the church because she is filled with hypocrites is just an excuse.

But my conviction is this – shouldn’t we strive to be authentic and real?  Shouldn’t people find a place where they can be themselves when they come to church?

God loves us just as we are but he also loves us too much to let us stay that way.

So today, be REAL.  Let others know you are human but that you are striving to live like Jesus.  The world needs real believers being real.

Be real today!