Town Marks

Carnies have a name for the people in each place to which they travel…town marks.  They usually view town marks only as a way to get cash…as much cash in as short of time as possible.  Generally speaking, the ‘town marks’ view carnies in a certain way, too.  If you’ve read my book, you read about a time when a gas station employee tried to prevent a group of us from coming in, as well as another time local police came looking for me, simply because I fit the description of a suspect and being with the carnival made me even more suspect in their eyes.  Even though there was an “us vs. them” feeling, when people would take a chance to get to know some of us, or when we’d view townspeople as more than just ‘marks,’ there were some good encounters.  I met a lot of nice people from town-to-town, state-to-state, from younger people to local law enforcement.  The good experiences outweighed the bad by far, all because I was willing to look beyond the ‘us vs. them’ barrier.
 
I keep feeling that same “us vs. them” vibe in many settings this year.  Most current is the presidential election going on in the U.S. right now.  I reallytry not to make comments about current events, because I have good friends from various points-of-view, politically.  Sometimes people genuinely want to know what I think, and we can have a good discussion, but for the most part, the general national discourse is more of a trading of “gotcha” barbs and insults rather than exchanging of honest, kindly-spoken opinions.  Thinking back a few months, remember the whole Chick-Fil-A “us vs. them” bruhaha?  It also basically turned into an insulting, painting-everyone-with-the-same-brush situation, rather than a genuine and calm discussion of the situation.  Earlier this year there were the “Occupy” protests, as well as regular riots and demonstrations all around the world.  Angry.  Insulting.  Dangerous.  Wearisome.

1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us that “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.”  Even if you’re not a Christian, I hope you acknowlege a Creator and an order to the universe.  I also hope that you’ve only had peaceful encounters with Christians.  If there were angry, disorderly, hurtful exchanges, I’m very sorry you experienced a Christian on those terms.

For those who are Christians, there are nine fruit that we should display in our lives as the Holy Spirit shapes our hearts and character:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23).  So rather than having ‘us vs. them’ arguments and insults, we need to prayerfully analyze if we’re displaying these fruit of the Spirit.  Notice I’m not suggesting that we step away from living a godly life or having a Christian worldview.  I’m only suggesting that we step back and analyze motives.  Are we in verbal battles because we want to be right and clever?  I would urge ALL Christians to do more battling on our knees in prayer and less in the faces of others.