WEiRD is Better..

Like most Jr. High school young boys, I thought I was “Maverick” from Top Gun. In my mind, (cue the Top Gun theme song music) I was the Mack Daddy of the East End Skating rink. My confidence was high, my self esteem primed, and my ego inflated, I thought I had the world all figured out. Up until I asked the prettiest girl there to couples skate. Then I got the most crushing blow of my life. “No way!” she exclaimed, “You’re too weird.” I could have recovered from anything but weird. It was devastating for a Jr. High school boy because what I had avoided all my life was being weird, being different. I could have handled fat, ugly, or even gross but not weird because I had worked hard my entire thirteen years of existence trying not to be weird. I even wore a Members Only jacket. Anything but weird as her words made my life take a drastic turn. From that moment on, life was about being normal, valuing what others thought of me, and trying hard to please other people. I had to be normal.


No matter our age many of us still cringe at the thought of others people thinking we are weird, not normal. In reality it is OK to be different because in today’s culture normal is overwhelmed, normal is broken relationships, and normal is living a life full of fear and anxiety. Most of us desire something different in life but might not know where to turn. When we venture off the normal path and begin to live a God kind of weird life, normal begins to pressure us to conform. There is that inward pressure we have of wanting people to like us, to blend in, to avoid being called different. We witness it the same at thirteen as we do at fifty. It can be exhausting. If the crowd is doing it, we feel drawn to do it also. If it’s happening down the street, we must do it too, because we don’t want to be the weird couple, the weird family, or the weird church. We want to be like everyone and feel pressure to conform to normal even when normal is miserable and misery loves company.

How do we break the pressure of normal? What does God say about being different? Do we live a life that is trying to please normal or please God? Is being WEiRD truly better? If you feel the pressure of being normal join us for Part III: WEiRD is Better as we discover God’s instruction on living a weird life. Weird is a life of joy, peace, purpose, and happiness. Maybe the place to find what you are looking for in life can be found in a weird place, the body of Christ known as the church. Together we can explore how being WEiRD is better because we can’t wear our Member’s Only jacket or thinking we’re Maverick, (cue Top Gun theme song music) forever. That’s too normal and normal isn’t working.
Peace, Love and Happiness,
The WEiRD Minister
Tommy