Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better

by Brant Hansen

Love people where they are, and love them boldly. And if you really want to go crazy, like them too. I love what author Mike Yaconelli once wrote: “Christians do not condone unbiblical living; we redeem it.”2 In the book Messy Spirituality, Yaconelli told a story about a small group of American soldiers during World War II who sought out a burial site for one of their fallen friends. They were pulling out the next day, and were hoping to bury him in a fenced churchyard cemetery nearby. As the sun was setting, they approached the house next to the church and knocked on the door. The priest answered. They asked him if they could bury their friend in the cemetery. “I’m sorry,” he replied, “but that’s only for members of our church.” The priest went on to tell the soldiers they could, if they chose, bury their comrade near the cemetery but on the other side of the fence. They were saddened but had few options, so that’s what they did. The next day, they wanted to visit their fellow soldier’s grave site one last time before moving on. When they came to the churchyard, they were shocked: they couldn’t find his grave. It simply wasn’t there. One of them went to the parsonage door and knocked. “What happened to the grave we dug?” one soldier asked when the priest answered. “It’s not there. We did it last night, and it’s not there.” “It’s still there.” The soldier was baffled. “You see, last night, I couldn’t sleep,” the priest confessed. “All I could think about was what I’d told ...