I can be a real jerk - it comes natural to me!

I was invited to go to lunch at NGU after church on Sunday. I like going up there, because it is a buffet, which means I can eat until I have completely gorged myself, and our girls don't have to be occupied for a half an hour before the entree comes out. One rule at the caff however is that on Sundays, everyone must wear "Sunday" clothes.

For guys this means a collar shirt tucked in, khaki pants, and a belt. I was sporting faded blue jeans with holes in the knees, and an untucked dress shirt. Now they have "security" (aka RA's) at the door to enforce the dress code. The guy stopped me and said:"Excuse me sir, you aren't supposed to come in with jeans on." Now, I don't know why I did this or who I think I am, but I had my wife and 2 girls and our friends the Gibbons who are living with us in line with me.

I guess in my mind I thought: "Can't you see that I have bigger responsibilities here than which pants I laid out this morning to wear?" But what he was probably thinking was: "Dude I think its lame too, but I am just the guy who stands here and tells people what to do."

Either way, my response was a snotty: "I am not a student here" and I walked deliberately past him carrying my little girl as a human shield daring him to say anything else to me. Now in afterthought, I have no idea whether or not that rule is applicable only to students or not. I suppose I assume that to be the case. Is it?

So what is the moral here? I can be a jerk for literally no reason. It is in my nature. The nature I was born with. Thank God that he has made a way for us to come into his family that has nothing to do with my own "goodness." For in my own strength all I deserve because of my jerky attitude is ultimately death. But God's gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ his Son. A gift that I take for granted too often.

If you are the young gentlemen I treated with disrespect at NGU, I apologize. If you saw it happen, or you heard him talk about the jerk who talked down to him on Sunday please pass on my apologies to him. This is not the person I want to be...