I wake up every Sunday promptly at 9 a.m.
I make sure my hair is done, my makeup natural, and my clothes are fresh. 
By 10 a.m. I’m out the door and driving a half hour to the church I have attended for four years now.
Most people don’t know this about me. 

Because during the week I wake up around 6:30 a.m.
My hair is not done, maybe I wear makeup, and my clothes are whatever is on my floor and clean.
I walk through the halls and when I eat lunch I don’t pray, I don’t devote anytime to God.
How could I? I live in a generation where if you speak about God you are suddenly the enemy.

I get told how I think gay people are going to hell,
that I think badly of others who don’t believe,
and I get told how I should act so people know I’m a believer.

And when I say that I believe in love,
John 4:20, and some laugh at the reference number but it is the truest of words I have to share,
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
Since I was 13 I have lived my life according to this verse.

When I say I believe in loving your neighbor like thy self
I get told that I need to check my references,
Or that I’m the only person who thinks like this.
I want to pull my hair out because the media portrays Christians,
yes I said Christians,
As people who think that you’re damned to hell because of who you love,
what you wear, your career, your marital status, and other “references” from the bible

Who
Am
I
To
Judge.

I am simply a sinner, just like anyone else.
I do not put myself on a pedestal like some people seem to think Christians do.
I do not judge because of how you dress, who you love, or what you do.
I want to be about to say the word God in public,
and not have people look at me like I said a bad word.
I want to sit in a restaurant and not have people stare when I bless my food.

I am a Christian and I want to feel like I’m not doing something wrong when I say it out loud.
I am a Christian and I want people to know not everyone is cruel.
I am a Christian and I will no longer feel like I am wrong.