So in my recent  “clicking” to learn more,  I wondered about the  “Jesus fish”. Ichthys   An interesting history.   I did not know what it was for many years.  There they were suddenly at every other traffic light!  Was it a car dealer emblem?

In the 70’s and 80’s car bumpers were always plastered with no end of stickers for just about everything. I would never put a sticker on my own car. They were impossible to remove. Many of them were entertaining or amusing. Then by the early 90’s some of them just got vile.  Rude. Nasty.  Now they are not as popular.  Probably just as well. Something good gone bad.

But this fish thing is actually stuck ON the car! On the paint!  Then I learned it was about religion or Christ.   What did it mean?!?!?  Was it some kind of  “Baby on Board” for  “special” Christians? Fishes and loaves? I remembered that story from Sunday school. It made no sense.  Was it some kind of universal symbol? A shared icon like a heart or a cross or a globe? Something everyone on the planet just “knows” when they see it?   A pure mental form that was to be imprinted in my soul before it was born into the world.  I must have been absent that day.

In my unforgiven days I would see this on the back of cars and not “get” it. My  failure to understand, promoted a resistance or fear to this “fish thing”.  Perhaps because, I was so busy justifying my own transgressions, so busy rationalizing my own flavor or “version” of being a “good guy”  without really following the Word.  We had no Google or Wikipedia in those days. (Okay, now i sound like an old man…lol.  Should I add…  and we LIKED IT that way!) So remained in the dark.

Finding a better heart, a better approach, a better Spirit
In my own defensive posture,  I have considered many in-your-face “Jesus Lovers” as self righteous, sanctimonious or holier than thou. Judgmental.  It is because many of them are. My own younger brother and I had a disagreement and misunderstanding of this sort at the turn of the century and the ensuing cold war on for many years. Far too long.

I am working to make sure I do not become that as I develop my renewed faith.  We are all sinners and struggle with pain and getting lost making mistakes and giving in to temptation. Some of us do not even understand temptation or what God and Jesus want from us. I myself am still learning. Aren’t we all?  I cannot lose sight of that as I walk through this world. Our job is to reach out to others. Guide them. Care for all God’s children. We are all in this together, like it or not.

So why did I react so much to the Jesus fish in a negative way?  It was something I did not understand.  I always respected the cross; what it symbolizes, what it stands for.  I wear one in a ring on my finger this day.  A precious and treasured gift from a dear companion on Christmas many years back. My daughter wears two.  But this fish thing…something always seemed “fishy” to me.

The local Contemporary Christian radio station (KSBJ: Saved by Jesus)  hands out bumper stickers that say  “God listens“.  Besides being a very clever advertisement for the station, it is two words that are reassuring.  What was impressive, was how often i began seeing it on the road. While the fish scared me because I was not sure what it was…(some secret sect of really Holy folks?)   “God listens”  was a reminder.

I wonder how the world would be if a Christian TV station took up the slogan of “God is Watching”  on bumper stickers and billboards all over town.   Would crime and anger and negative energy drop?  What about hunger and lust and war?

So I became a member of the church Wednesday night.  I signed a covenant and committed to this place of worship. It is a place doing great things. It is a place I feel safe and I can commune closely with my maker. it is a place  that is non-denominational, non-judgmental and devoid of ancient rituals. I can celebrate Christ and learn and grown. They accept us all. It is so philosophically aligned with what I feel is good and right and Christlike. It is family.
What is more awesome is my daughter joined as well!  There is hope!  We were given stickers to put on our cars. They say :”I am COF” (Community of Faith)  My daughter could not wait to stick hers on her car. It went in the rear window,  I actually got two, one for my car and one for the van we use when we all go to church together. My daughter insisted on putting them on my cars. Spread the Good Word I figure.

Hmmm…Now  I wonder where I can get a God listen’s sticker.

– j