For Transgender
It’s Easy to Feel Anger and Hate and Then…
There was a commercial on TV several weeks ago with the Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin, she’s very popular, won something like four gold medals at the 2012 Olympics. I’m pretty sure the commercial was based on an actual event and she allowed it to be made into a commercial, God bless her. In the commercial she tearfully read a letter she wrote thanking her family for helping her become the woman she is, for all they had done for her – it was very touching. Read more “It’s Easy to Feel Anger and Hate and Then Look for Who You Should Blame”
Some of you are aware that I’m writing a book. Most of you know me pretty well, but there are some of you who don’t. It would really be thoughtful of me as the author to at least meet the expectations of the reader created by the title and cover. 
A SPECIAL TREAT and guest blogger for you this time. Pastor Sharon Bollum is a FRIEND, a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and my spiritual mom who lives in California (don’t blame her – California needs saving too and someone has to live there to get the job done.) Growing up life wasn’t always easy for her and even as an she adult has faced challenges that would shake the faith of most of us. But God has richly blessed her with an UNSHAKABLE faith and as a result with a special wisdom that I’ve found speaks at a level that’s well… REAL. Don’t treat this as just a “scan it and forget it” post. It’s so good I asked her for permission to post it to my site, because it also expresses my heart how we as Christians (including me) need to do better – MUCH better. 
The words “identify” and “identity” are frequently used when reading or hearing about being transgender. Don’t confuse the fact that you’re transgender with who you are as a Christian. You’re not perfect, neither am I nor anyone else on Earth, but David says in Psalm 139:14 that God made us in an amazing and wonderful way. Being born a boy or girl but with a body that didn’t match is no less amazing and wonderful, but the Lord doesn’t look at the outside, He looks beyond our bodies. 1 Samuel 16:7 says “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” The Lord looks at WHO you are, not whether you’re tall or short, white or black, skinny or fat or male or female.
It starts with saying “hi”. You see them again a few days or weeks later and you say “oh, hi again – I’m sorry but what was your name again? Oh great – so glad to see you again!” No one can explain the connection, but it’s there and yet you don’t think much beyond “that’s a nice person.” You might not see them again for many more weeks or even months, but you see them again and then you say “hi, so good to see you again, let’s have lunch sometime and get better acquainted.”
It was a very hard thing for me to hear, a family at my church informed an elder that they were leaving our church, and I was the reason.
I’m struck at how we Christians, ALL of us Christians if asked would be pretty quick to say “yes”, that we unconditionally love and accept our Christian brothers and sisters. Maybe you’re reading this and are thinking to yourself “well I certainly do!” 
I’m sure you’ve heard it before – “Men and women are wired differently”. What a man thinks, wants and needs can be very different from what a woman may think, want or need. Almost 25 years ago John Gray published his now famous book “Men Are from Mars, Woman Are from Venus” to help men and women better understand each other in relationships. And the reason the book was even necessary (and as a result so popular) is because God has made the sexes unique BEYOND the obvious physical differences. At the same time, we live in a society that tries to deny that those differences do exist, it can get very confusing. 