Good Folks.

I was recently talking to someone at school about putting one of the "up and coming" drummers of S.C.A on the worship team for chapel this year so they can gain some experience and I could give them some advice for next year. That way they might be a little more prepared. Thought it would be a good thing for this person to experience. When I talked to the "worship leader" they said he would not be put up on the team. Why? because this person is marked as "sketchy" or a "bad person". This kind of blew my mind, that we would have the slight level of audacity to flat out call someone a bad person. It's weird that usually all we want to focus on is the bad things people do, and we almost completely ignore the good. Then we mark that person off as sketchy or flat out, "a bad person."
What makes a person bad? It seems if someone gets a bad reputation they can't break it. They're just written off. Jiminy jilickers if people started focusing on the negative things I do, I'd be off this praise and worship team so fast it would make my head spin. I have found myself so many times focusing on the bad, rather than the good and all I have gained from it is bitterness, or an unwillingness to forgive that person. Why do we judge someone else as being a bad person when our flaws are just as big as theirs? Why do we ignore our own flaws and make others flaws look like a great sin?
Perhaps instead of writing these people off as "bad" or "sketchy" people, we should show mercy, grace and maybe even acceptance. We gain nothing from ignoring our own flaws and focusing on someone else and their foibles. I've challenged myself to focus on the good in someone, without completely ignoring the bad, and I have learned a lot. I have friends that people write off as "an angry child", I've found a willing servants heart in those people. I know people that have been written off as "party harders", but they are some of the most understanding people I know. I've learned to respect those people, to not be scared to associate myself with them and pray for them. Not write them off, and hope they get a punch to the face that snaps them straight. After looking for the good in people all I can say is... I know some damn good folks.