Mr. Bucket vs. Mr. Bench

During the summer I find myself walking on the boardwalk with friends in the evening a lot. It was only a couple years ago that I became familiar with the "Bucket Preacher". There's a man who flips over a bucket & stands on it. He waves a stiff index finger at people, calling them out in a thick southern accent, the kind you hear in the old movies shouting at black people after the Civil War. So there he stands, pointing his finger at scantily clad young ladies and boys with their drawers too low:

"WHORE MONGERS! THIEVES! LIARS! YOU'LL BURN IN THE PITS OF HELL IF YOU DO NOT REPENT OF YOUR WICKED WAYS!!!"

He quotes scripture... But when I say scripture I mean select bits of scripture like Matthew 23:3--
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?!"

Of course, he would typically leave out the rest of the chapter in hopes people don't recognize that throughout Matthew 23 Jesus is speaking to the people of the church.
Yeah, that's a tough pill to swallow.
Anyways, one time I was on the boardwalk with my pastor and 2 girlfriends of mine. We were walking along & heard these teenagers who were taunting Mr. Bucket. "So, you think I'm going to hell?"... that kind of stuff. It's a pretty popular thing to do, actually, go down to the boardwalk and take on the Bucket Preacher.
Anyhow, after the teens started drifting away (I think they got a little bored...), we decided to go up to this guy & just see where he was coming from, you know? There was no plan to start a theological argument with him, no plan to tell him where we came from or that we happened to have a particularly wise Man of God with us.

We approach him and start asking questions. Never have I felt the Spirit hold me back like He did that night. I wanted so badly to kick this guy in the shins, I wanted to rip the wedding band off his finger just thinking about how humiliating it must be to walk around arm-in-arm with him. But I stood there, patiently, listening as he ranted on and on. He told us he's sick of the churches teaching 90% grace and 10% commandment. He decided to turn it around and teach 90% law and 10% grace to even things out. (Yeah, I don't understand the logic to it, either.)

After exchanging some words, and slipping a little bit into the doctrine of it all, trying to see how far we could get him... even though he was clearly so far gone, I had to walk away. I had to go "regroup" I guess. My flesh, my heart, my Spirit, my mind, they were all in conflict. There was a battle going on at the beach that night. So I went and sat down next to this kid on one of the benches. He's sitting there eating some fries, observing. I struck up a conversation with him & he told me that he liked to come and watch this guy yell at people, that it was just plain entertaining. In a way, I can't blame him. I could see how if he wasn't personally condemning you or misrepresenting you then, you know, it would be fun. I might sit there with some fries and a milkshake one night, too, if it weren't for the battle that the Bucket Man stirred up in me.

I considered for a second sharing the gospel with this kid. To this day, I don't know why I didn't. I think it might be because I was learning so much from him, actually. He had pity on Mr. Bucket. I was pissed that Mr. Bucket was driving so many away from the Word of God but Mr. Bench I guess realized the depravity in Mr. Bucket. So me & Mr. Bench sat there and I thought about the fact that Mr. Bucket probably hasn't been shown a whole lot of grace in his life. He probably did things wrong as a kid, made simple mistakes, and was shown no mercy. Or maybe he never did anything wrong but was still punished for his innocence and that's when he decided that everyone else should be punished for being so wrong. Whatever it was... Mr. Bench showed me how important it is to show grace to the graceless. To this day I think about the Bucket Man and Mr. Bench. How representative they are of my heart...

How representative they are of life in general. Someone's always yelling & someone's always listening. Sure, it doesn't seem too profound & this blog kind of seems like a waste. But let's think about it. Let's think about Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama (yes, I just brought that up). Now everyone get good and worked up real quick. Start being infuriated about who's winning and who you want to win. Start preaching at me. OK, good, now keep going while I say this:

I DON'T CARE WHO WINS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Yeah, I know you're offended. Whatever.
Let me tell you something:
I would rather live in America with Hillary Clinton as president than live in Kosovo proclaiming independence. Or live in Burma as an IDP.. running away from a malicious, powerful government. Or live in brothels as an unwilling prostitute.

Here we are: the Mr. Buckets of America getting all worked up, arguing, separating, pointing fingers.
And there they are: the Mr. Benches of Serbia, sitting back, relaxing, being entertained.

Because while we go to a warm, cozy home every night, they're stuck on the bench at the beach, eating fries, thinking, lost.

Yet, so peaceful.
It's these people who are shown the true gospel and cling to it. Not questioning rules or authority. But knowing the love of Christ. Dedicating themselves to Him. Forever.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;..."
Philippians 1:21-23