Biblical Plagues and the Census

One of the fantastic by-products of this sustained period of under-employed is that I feel super excited about being around people again. A lot of people that I work with are in similar situations; they were self-employed or lost their jobs or need to take a second job to support a family. We are the island of misfit toys but have hit it off, probably because we've all had pretty lonely years. It's exciting to see my own personal growth in this area and my increasing willingness to reach out to unlikely people. It's an awesome opportunity to share the gospel and I'm hoping for increased chances.

However, there a couple people who test this new found growth to the max.

One in particular is someone I supervise. Try as I might, I find him exasperating, slightly creepy and obnoxious. He causes problems so bizarre, it reads like a SNL sketch- discarded because it's too far fetched. After one such problem caused me to jettison my Friday night plans and hunt for lost government documents, I was so annoyed I could hardly see straight. It carried into Saturday and I dreaded the inevitable 2-5 phone calls I would receive from him.

As I walked home from a block party on Saturday, I couldn't stop thinking about it. As irritated as I was/am, I felt really convicted by my attitude. I know that we're told from a young age that God loves us all but as I was walking home, I was meditating upon the fact that we are all equally made in the image of God. As Christians, we are called to live against the fall (as Wesley would say) and try to look more like Jesus but our original makeup remains the same. I didn't pop out of the womb more made in the image of God than this man. Yes, some of his personal habits may drive me crazy but the fact that we are both Imago Dei should radically transform how I see and relate to him. Regardless of whether or not he is a Christian, he was made in the Image of God and that level alone implies a standard of relation that I should be held to.

Unrelated but also pressing: Why did Israel get the smack down in 2 Samuel 24 after conducting the census? What did David do wrong? It seems so random. I bet people in Chicago wouldn't be so rude to my enumerators if they knew a biblical plague was the punishment for not filling out your questionnaire. But then again, it is Chicago so...