So, a couple of nights ago as we were closing up the store at Starbucks, this man places a track on the counter and says something like, "Take a look at this fellas...God will change your life." For some reason, I got really offended.

At first I thought I was offended because this man made a judgement call about us based solely on our appearances...besides the fact that I wear a ring with an ichthus (Christian fish) on it. Then I realized it was something else.

I was offended by two different things. First, the group he was with left a huge mess in the cafe; and second, he showed no personal interest in me before placing that track on the counter. All it seemed he wanted was to increase is "souls saved" number. I think this is why so many non-Christians hate Christians. Most Christians will not take the time to invest in people and find out about them personally before presuming to witness to them.

Think about it. If someone who knows nothing about you and has shown no real interest in you tries to convince you to believe in a strange idea...would you even listen to them. If you're really honest with yourself, I bet you said, "no."

Christians need to learn that we must care firstly for people. If we do not genuinely care for people, then what good is the message we tell them? People must always have their physical, mental, and personal needs met long before they will ever believe in the God we say we serve.

Plus, there's something very belittling about calling someone "fella" without having a relationship with them. One of my petpeeves is when someone who is not my friend calls me "buddy". Ninety-five percent of the time, I can tell that person is trying to fake a relationship with me so that I'll reguard them more highly. In your case, Dempsey, it's like he called you "fella" to sound like you two had a relationship.