Normal

Sometimes it is hard to know what is normal.  Is skating to work normal?  For one person in the office where I am it is – though the only way you know it is by the wrist protectors he often leaves on his desk.  If not for the one sign you would think he commuted just like the rest of us.  The list of questions about what is normal is endless; behavior, dress, attitude, actions, and choices are just the broad headings of the areas where we see and categorize normal versus something otherwise. 
 
I stood behind a classic 1970s pimp mobile.  Gold Cadillac, custom white vinyl roof with small trapezoid window, fur dash, low riding, wire wheels, hood mascot, and a boat light on the roof – just to make sure you know the car was there.  In another time and place some would have wondered.  In New York’s West Village it was something to be admired, photographed, and in short stared at!  I wondered about the car’s history – the stories it could tell.  Just like a ’54 Havana Caddy – how long could we listen to the adventures of the various people who owned and rode in the car?  What would we see of their lives?  How do the stories continue? 
 
I live in places many call different.  I hold values others consider old, somewhat out of fashion, even archaic.  I thirst after something most people do not even know about, much less understand.  Some would say that “strange and wild animals will like it just fine, filling the vacant houses with eerie night sounds.  Skunks will make it their home, and unspeakable night hags will haunt it.” (Isaiah 13.21)  Yet for me it is normal.
 
What makes the difference?  The answer lies in personal experience and understanding.  It is in my awareness of this answer that I find my mission.  I have the opportunity to introduce others to my God.  I can never force or manipulate because; these are not the values God or I hold dear.  It is always an invitation of love and compassion.