You might be a KOOK if. . .

I have to tell you this funny story that came up at our Tuesday Night Bible Study at Lynn's house a couple of weeks ago. It's not really my story, but I have not been able to get it off my mind and hopefully Lynn & Teri won't mind me sharing the thoughts that I have had since then.

We were going over our week's study and talking about The Holy Calling of the Priesthood and how God expected His priesthood to obey very specific guidelines. For instance they had to be between 25-50 years old. They could not shave their head and they had to keep it covered. They had to marry a virgin of their own people. They could not drink. Leviticus 22:31-33 tells us that if the priesthood did not live every word that God commanded that it would bring shame to God's holy name. Later in the study we were asked to answer a few questions:

What do you deliberately avoid for the sake of purity?

How do others know you are set apart to God?

If you have children, what habits toward purity are you helping instill in them?

Here is where the funny story comes in. Teri shared with Lynn that as she was working on her study that week she remembered one of the 1st times they ever met. They were at another mutual friends house just sitting around talking and she reminded Lynn of a conversation that they had, then she told Lynn that her 1st impression was, "What a kook this woman is! All she ever talks about is God and stuff." I can't even tell you how funny we all thought this was. I guess for you to understand completely you have to know the history of Lynn & Teri's friendship. They met at this mutual friend's house . . .Teri thought Lynn was a kook. Then. . . Lynn started Tuesday Nights at her house. When they first started it was just the three of them, then they invited me. Teri has admitted that, in the beginning, she really did not want to come. Since then Teri accepted Christ as her Savior. YAY! What a blessing it was that God allowed me to be there that night when Lynn led Teri to the Lord, and to watch Him begin a love relationship with her. I have to say that often times when she shares what she has learned reading her bible I get a little convicted. I think that I had fallen into that rut of forgetting "my first love" with Him. Just being around Teri rekindles that love in me for my Savior. She is excited and growing . . . the old has passed away right before my eyes and she has become a new creation. God is so good. Anyway that is really what made the "kook" thing so funny. Because now. . . Teri is a kook . . . just like the rest of us. If you can't beat 'em . . . join 'em . . . right!

So you might be a KOOK if . . . you talk about God all the time . . . if you go to church all the time . . if you read your bible all the time . . . if you pray . . . if you tithe . . . if you ask forgiveness when you realize you've done something wrong . . . if you are submissive to your husband . . . if you pray for your enemies . . . if your co-workers don't tell dirty jokes, or cuss around you . . . if no one gossips with you . . . if you won't let your children watch everything that comes on the TV . . . if you have rules and you expect your children to obey. . . if you . . . well, you finish the list.

• A kook is someone regarded as eccentric or crazy and standing out from a group. And in case you're like me (not very smart) and you needed to look it up . . .

• An eccentric is a person with an unusual or odd personality.

Do people think you are crazy? Do you often feel like you don't fit in? Compared to others are you unusual or odd? Are you in the world but not of the world? If so, take heart. God calls you to be a light in this world. And although we must walk inside this world, we must not let the world walk inside us. We can't hide our light under a bushel. So if others think you're a kook, then I'm sure God is well pleased with you.