Are we really THAT different?

"But if you ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everyone else; they just sprinkle in a little Jesus along the way."
I've been questing why anyone would want to be a Christian. I look back on the past three weeks on the community I live in and the way that they are handling an issue that is very close to my heart and I want to cry. In my mind, being Christian in life and community means extending grace and forgiveness even when people don't deserve it in your mind. It means punishing for the purpose of redemption. Yet, the way my school functions in government, in the classroom, and in organization is quit similar to the way it was at Pitt. Praying before classes doesn't make us Christian. We should be living a noticeable difference.
I've had a few occasions on my life where people have came up to me and have stated, not asked, that I was Christian. The first few times this happened I was shocked and would inquire how people knew. It was never what I said, it was always what I did. Things that are automatic for me other people around me don't do. Please don't take this to mean that there are certain things that Christians have to do - a set list. But it does mean that we are called to reach the hurting world around us, however we can. I praise Christ more when I sit with a hurting friend for a few hours in silence then I do yelling at someone that they are going to Hell. Actions will always speak louder then words and when words actually come they will give meaning to what we are saying.
"Preach the gospel always. When necessary use words." - Franciscans

"Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the joy, and fulfillment he gives your right now?" - Tony Campolo
This is an offshoot of the first question I asked, why would anyone be a Christian? At first I was a Christian because I was raised in the church. There was no other way. When I became old enough to seriously choose another way I saw the lives of those around me who went down that path and I didn't want it. Of course I always knew that I wanted to go to Heaven. But around twelfth grade I started to give that some serious thought. What if Heaven didn't exist? Why am I a Christian? Because serving a Master solely for eternal security seems selfish and like something that I wouldn't be called to. It's sort of a scary question. But if you start asking God what makes you you he starts to whisper back who you are to him. Let me tell you, it's amazing. And that answer extends to both who you are now and who you will continue to be in Heaven. It is who he fashioned you to be. But you need to start cultivating that person on earth by serving those around you. When I get so wrapped up in the future I forget that I am currently living as well. Do you think God gets frustrated when we think so much about being with him that we don't live for him now?

"When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist." - Dom Helder Camara
People are all about meeting immediate needs (if they do anything at all) but they are not going to look to the root of any problem in most cases. Maybe the root just seems to big, too overwhelming. But I think if we look at the cause we will realize that we play a part in it. For example, we could sponsor a child through compassion and say that we are saving them from sweatshops, but really if we take a minute we would realize that the shirt we are wearing is the reason that sweatshop exists in the first place. If we look at the root cause we will no longer be the hero.

"This love is not sentimental but heart wrenching, the most difficult and most beautiful thing in the world." - Dorothy Day
As Americans I think we like to see love as something that we can offer to other people that makes us feel good. Love has good feelings attached to it. But over the past three years I have learned about the other part of love - the part that no one wants to tell you about. When you truly love someone your heart breaks for them. You feel what they feel. You become enmeshed with them. You can feel the other persons hurt and joy. When you are THAT connected to someone, even if it is just one way, it is truly beautiful because it reflects what community and life should be like, but I'm not going to lie, it hurts beyond words as well.

"When we are trying to teach kids not to hit each other and they see a government use violence to bring about change, we start to consider what it means to give witness to a peace not like the world gives."