OUTCAST

   Probably twice a year I clean out closets and dressers of my family of four. I get rid of things that are too small too worn out and just never really used them. We bag them up in the garage till I can take them to goodwill or the clothes closet. But, it gets me to thinking, what makes something an outcast?
   I know this boy from church. He has struggled his whole life to make friends, to be loved and involved. He has a neurobiological issue that makes him, to say the least, quirky. He is too loud when he should have been quieter. He says things that, though truthful can be hurtful. He never  learned how to read facial or social clues. So when someone is checking their watch, or looking anywhere but at him he continues to talk about the subject he was on, because he doesn't realize they are bored. This disorder makes him unable to see the forest for the trees.
   Now through the years he has had a friend or two here and there. Never very close, and never very reliable. See outcast status is a funny thing, it can rub off on an otherwise reasonably popular kid. And in today's society there is a lot of emphasis on being part of the acceptable, the keepers. When these relationships fall apart, well here's the sad part. He doesn't realize much less understand it. So, these kids have at times used cruelty and embarrassment to run him off and help him understand. The other day at church, As I watched from the balcony a group of youth sat 9 people on one row so there would be no room for this boy. He still didn't understand and continued to try to talk to them, they laughed and made faces, he never knew. He had a group of a few boys. He called them his brothers. They came often for a while and then kind of faded away. But, then they returned and he was thrilled! He took them out to eat and to drag around town. He even took them to others friends houses, he was not invited to stay. Then they simply came to the boy's house to raid the fridge, or make a call, or just needed his mom to take care of an injury. Then they stopped calling him at all. They still continued to get together one block from his home. The boy still didn't understand. He continues to call them brothers. He does not realize he has been cast out.
   Now all this is said, just to remind myself and maybe others, that Jesus came to love the popular, the charming, the pretty kids. He came to love the ones who are easy to love. Who deserve it.
   Wait. That's not right! Jesus came to love the unloved, right? The losers? The ones who get mad? The ones who are awkward? The outcast?