cujo

Back around 1997 we had this little Jack Russel Terrier, Georgie, who was the bane of Wendy's existence. She would not listen for anything and house breaking her took a decade. She was absolutely great around our kids though. Very protective, you would have thought she was a 180 lb. pit bull the way she acted around strangers. This came as a problem one afternoon when she nipped the heel of the neighbor boy, Kyle, who lived across the street. I guess he and Jeremy and Jason, who were all around 7 or 8 years old, were wrestling and she took offence to Kyle. After smoothing things over with his parents, we moved shortly thereafter.

Little did I know how much offence Kyle took to being bit. About 5 years later, I was coaching 8th grade football and Kyle showed up on my team. The first thing he said was, "Hi Coach! Do you still have the evil-wicked little dog?"   Georgie had left quite an impression on Kyle at an early age. When something bad happens to kids, especially by someone they like, look up to and trust, it can scar them for years.

The same can be said about young Christians. If they are offended early in their walk, especially by someone they look up to and trust, it can scar them for years and even drive them away from the church.

That's one reason we want to build an environment of love in the church we are starting in Miami. A place where non-believers and people that have walked away from the church because they might have been hurt, can come check out Jesus without a bunch of pressure. A no strings attached, come as you are kind of environment.