Love with a pulse

August 1st. Holy Cow! Or Chicken!

I have spent the last two weeks in North Carolina by a pool and out of touch with the world a bit. But of course I have Facebook so I caught up! The last day of July I heard someone mention that the next day was Chick-fil-a appreciation day. I thought "Perfect! A perfect excuse to eat out that day."

My husband ended up working from home that morning so he agreed to taking the kids to an early lunch at Chick-fil-a before going into work. When we got there we had to wait through an insane traffic jam to even get into the parking lot, and it wasn't even 11am! We stood in the line that wound out the door and down the sidewalk for 30 minutes before deciding to go eat somewhere else. 

Later I got on Facebook and saw awful fights between friends, and hurtful articles, and accusations about things that I wasn't even aware was the issue!

One popular article I read this morning was all about shaming any Christian who went to Chick-fil-a that day, saying that it was unloving and hateful and that Christians wouldn't have lined up to help homeless people like they did Chick-fil-a. This was a pastor! Isn't that being condemning and unloving?? You really have to hate certain people to love certain other ones??

Incidentally, I picked up a book this last week that changed my view on loving people and being loved by Jesus. I determined that I was going to learn how to receive the unconditional love of the Father that holds no condemnation and learn how to turn around and offer that same love to the world; gay, straight, Christian, un-Christian, in-law, or out-law. Of course every time you determine to do something, it seems you get so many more opportunities to practice it!

My beliefs as a Christian are that God created marriage for a man and a woman. I also happen to believe that gay marriage should be legal. I don't think the government has any business in it. If the government can take away gay rights, they can take away Christian's rights and women's rights and anyone's rights.

The reason I went to Chick-fil-a on August 1st was because it seemed like a great excuse to eat chicken. But the thing I was supporting when I stood in line for those 30 minutes, was my right to my personal belief without penalty. 

Chick-fil-a serves gay people every day with a smile and a "My Pleasure". They employ gay people. Never once has Chick-fil-a denied homosexual people chicken or rights, or acted in hatred against them. The founder was asked his personal opinion on marriage. He gave it. Now Chick-fil-a's are being denied existence in certain cities. Intolerance? Yes, against people who believe differently. Perhaps gay people should have been lining up to buy chicken on August 1st, since they know first hand what it feels like to be hated and persecuted for your personal views. 

Now if Chick-fil-a had made a statement saying that gay people don't have rights or value or acted hateful, I wouldn't step foot in a Chick-fil-a again.

I have gay friends. I value them. I think they are loved and special and deserve any right that I have. I believe they deserve to have a voice and an opinion.

A friend of mine said on Facebook today that while August 1st was about making a statement about our freedom of speech, make today a day about making a statement about love and consider buying homosexual couples lunch at Chick-fil-a. Maybe instead of arguing about who is more loving or right or intolerant, we can make love a verb.

United we stand!!!