I had just finished preaching when a middle-aged chap walked up to me and said, “What’s with all the spiritual ‘God is in everything’ nonsense?” I responded, “Nonsense, huh? What do you mean?” He blurted out, “Just tell me what you believe? Are you a hippie or what?” Perceiving that there was no end to the Who-Wants-To-Be-a-Millionaire style game, I answered his million dollar question that I often resist, “ ‘Hippie,’ no. But ‘Christian mystic,’ yes.” As he began to walk away, he said, “Okay, never mind then. I don’t care what you have to say if that is what you believe.”

 

This wasn’t a first for me. I have become a little accustom to this kind of response. I often ask myself, “Am I just too abrasive? Or, what was that all about?” I have begun to realize that the problem is one of terminology.