When John Crist Dishes out the Truth: Just Be Kind

Sometimes, y’all, the truth can hit you when you least expect it.  Like, when John Crist dishes out the truth at one of his shows.  And not as a joke, either. 

So, last night my family and I went to go see a comedy show.  Yep, none other than John Crist.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, there’s a good chance you’ve seen one or two of his videos.  John is a huuuuge internet sensation right now.  He’s a pretty funny guy that pokes fun at the Church.  To add icing to the cake, he has even done voice over for Adventures in Odyssey.   And we all know how much I love Adventures in Odyssey.  I’m still looking for someone to build that Imagination Station, by the way…

Y’all, it’s really not a secret, church people do funny things.  I guarantee you we all know someone that acts just like the Bible Verse Lady.  I may or may not have some Bible Verse Lady tendencies… #noshame.  It’s good to laugh at ourselves from time to time.  Because if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’ve got a problem.   In the off chance that you haven’t seen his videos or don’t have a clue who I’m talking about, click here and be prepared to bust a gut.  Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Quick disclaimer: this post isn’t going to be review or a critique of his show or the Good Medicine Tour.  Although, I will put this out there: about 15 percent of his jokes were for… um… “mature” audiences, if you catch my drift.  Lots of different thoughts on that, but not what this post is for.

I wasn’t prepared for this

I guess there are just some places where you don’t necessarily expect to leave with something for you to think on for a couple of days, right?  I’d even go so far as to say a comedy show is one of those places.  I mean, you go for the kicks and giggles and with the expectation that when you leave, you’ll have lower blood pressure.  (My Momma says laughing lowers your blood pressure.  And my Momma doesn’t lie, y’all.  Except for the time about the cat dying of “natural causes” when really Boo-Boo got hit by a car.  That one, Mom, still hurts.)  You don’t necessarily go to a comedy show for the food for thought, right?

Except, that’s exactly what I left with.  Something to think about.

Last night marked the second time I had seen John Crist at a live show.  And I’ll be honest, I’ve never been to any other comedy shows to know how those go down.  But, at the end of his performances, at least both shows I have seen, he takes a minute to explain why he does what he does.

Sometimes, for all of us, comedians or not, it’s hard to have a real honest moment.  I can’t imagine it’s real easy to drop the curtain and be totally honest when you have a thousand pairs of eyeballs looking at you.  But, John does it.  And he dropped a whole bundle of truth at last night’s show. 

I hate to say this because it’s so horrible and should not be the case, but gun violence and school shootings are a common thing in the news these days.  It seems like any time you turn on the news, you hear about someone else committing a murder or a massacre of some sort happening.

If you’re like me, you wonder how someone could commit such an evil act.  How can someone take another person’s life and show no remorse?  Y’all know I like watching Dateline.  And yet, just about after every episode, those are the questions I seem to ask.

How do people do something like that?

According to John, you have to already decide in your heart that those people you intend to harm aren’t real people.  You turn off the part of your heart that feels compassion.  You seemingly forget that those people have people that love them and those people have a soul.

And, here comes the truth: if we’re not real careful, it’s easy for everyone to do this.

John Crist Dishes out the Truth

Yep, you heard me.  It’s easy for everyone to turn that off the voice in your head that says “this is a person, too, be kind.”  When that happens, it’s easy to listen to the voice that says “so what?”, instead.

I know.  I can hear you, dear reader, saying, “Uh, Cassie, I don’t plan on committing any crimes against someone else. I’m not like those that do that.”  And maybe you’re not, but let me explain.

How many times have we been in a restaurant and witnessed someone lose their marbles on the wait staff because their food was wrong? Or some minor inconvenience occurred?

How many times have we witnessed a customer go from sort of decent to absolutely irate and throw a light bulb at cashier’s head when the already burnt out light bulb couldn’t be returned for full purchase price?  (True story.  Saw that happen once.)

Or, even still.  How many times have we, ourselves, felt a good case of road rage bubble up when someone cut us off while driving?  That horn you smashed to get back at the driver sounded nice, didn’t it?

But, it shouldn’t have felt that good.

Because that car?  Well, it wasn’t just a car.  There was a person in that car.  And who knows, maybe they just received absolutely devastating news and was too consumed in their heartbreak to realize they were too close to your car when they changed lanes.

Just be kind

The point is, and the point John was making at his show, everyone deserves kindness.  If we truly knew everyone’s backstories, we’d understand why some people do the things they do or act in the manner that they act.  But, you know, some people stories aren’t ours to know.

We can’t possibly know every detail about someone else and then decide whether or not they are worthy of our kindness.  And, friend, it isn’t our place to be the judge and the jury either.  We’ve been called to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.  It’s hard to do that when we’ve turned off our compassion sensors and we’re giving someone else a hard time because we’ve been inconvenienced in some way.

The funny thing about spreading the Good News to Others?  We’ve got to have the joy of the Lord in our own hearts.  The love of Christ does not look like hate, y’all.

If you’re going to be anything today, be kind.

P.S. Struggling with your calling in life? 

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