Christians behaving badly

Yesterday, Saturday, was the first day of the big Mardi Gras weekend. Here in the Quarter, the craziness only grows from now until Tuesday night. In other parts of the city, families along the parade routes are having barbeque, crawfish boil, and King Cakes on the neutral ground with their neighbors and little kids are catching more beads that their mothers will have room to store. On Bourbon Street, young women will take their shirts off to catch beads. They do not live here. All locals know that EVERBODY get beads no matter what, more beads than you will ever want or need. But young, drunk female tourists are not the only people misbehaving. Christians from other towns and states arrive and start preaching. The only problem is that most of them are not “speaking the truth in love”! Yesterday Mike heard a preacher with a bullhorn say to a man, "so you're a Catholic, are you also a child molester?" Tell me, how can people think this kind of behavior is going to advance the cause of Christ? They have no idea the damage they do with this behavior. They will return to their hometowns feeling that they have been persecuted for preaching the gospel. Yet we remain, picking away at the walls raised in relationships by their faulty representation of the Lord, trying daily to live out God's love to the people who live and work in the French Quarter. One the bright side, Mike talked to some Christians from Texas holding a sign that says, “Despite what they say, Jesus loves you.” He was impressed with their kindness.