At times, I feel just like I felt in jr. high school. As a 7th grader, I remember the terror of PE class. I weighed 77 pounds and through what must have been an administrative error, found myself in the same class as the entire football team. Most of them were twice my size. And all we ever did was play this game of dodge ball where we'd fling red rubber balls as hard as we could at one another.

It was so terrifying that I've blocked out most of those memories. The only thing I can recall is trying to hide behind the bleachers so as to avoid the sting of the ball slamming against my skin and the resultant laughter from the opposing team. What a horrible invention jr. high is. No wonder our national test scores keep dropping if that's how we start our kids toward adulthood.

As an adult, I still sometimes experience the same feeling of not fitting in, but I'm OK with it. The world's scorn no longer stings me like one of those dodge balls. While the opinions of others used to give me points of reference to steer by, now I care more about what God says about me. And in this regard, the apostle Paul is a frequent source of encouragement. Check out what he said to the Corinthian Jesus-followers:

"It seems to me that God has put us who bear his message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We're something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street." (1 Cor. 14:9-10)

Paul's example was the gold standard. He didn't care what people thought of him. His personal center of gravity came from God. He may have stuck out like a sore thumb from the world's perspective, but he knew it was his job to change that view.

If you can relate to perpetually feeling like you're in some jr. high PE class, I think the key is to begin to locate your center of gravity elsewhere. This blog, for example, is a start. Maybe try reading the rest of Paul's letter to the Corinthians.