When I was much younger, I used to watch Sesame Street.  One of my favorite muppets was Kermit the frog.  Kermit was often found singing his signature song, It''s Not Easy Being Green, where he bemoaned the hardship of being green like so many other things and not really standing out.  It was Sesame Street''s nod to an appreciation of diversity in people.

Now days, the opposite problem exists for this generation.  It seems like most people want to be just like everybody else.  We choose to blend in with the crowd.  As though we are afraid of our own uniqueness. Its especially disheartening to see this phenomena in the church.  Honestly, its getting to be almost impossible to tell the difference between people who describe themselves as Christians and those who don''t!

Case in point: I''ve been fascinated by the use of social networking by the younger generation.  As I was reviewing some of the Facebook profiles of some of the youngsters in my circle (better known as snooping), I noticed all the bible verses and lovely Jesus quotes some of the young adults were posting only to be dismayed to see their ''walls" filled with profanity and inappropriate pictures.  Yikes!  What would Jesus do if he were walking the earth today and noticed the inconsistencies between their words and their lives?  I decided he would remind them that they were created to be Lamborghinis not Toyotas!

Why the car analogy? Well, the first time I heard that analogy used was by one of my daughter''s middle school teachers that admonished the girls during a sex education class to not be so easy and to make the young men in their lives realize that they were not Toyotas but were Lamborghinis.  When I heard this, I thought "this teacher is talking my language!"  But what did she mean by that?  I didn''t have to go very far to find the answer to that question.  I live with two people that LOVE cars! My daughter and my husband can spot the make, model, and performance of any car ever made in a nano second.  According to them, there is a VAST difference between a Lamborghini and a Toyota.  To speak frankly: Toyotas are common, everyday cars.  They are advertised everywhere, driven by anybody and although once touted as well made (present problems excepted), there was nothing special about them.  A Lamborghini on the other hand is rarely seen in common places but its reputation is impeccable and its performance is second to none.  When car people think Lamborghini, they think excellence at the puriest level.  It is a car that seems to know its purpose and pursues it with passion when handled by a skilled driver.  And isn''t that what Christians are supposed to represent?  Shouldn''t we stand out as a people of excellance, driven by purity, passion and purpose?  The Bible says, "You are a chosen people...a holy nation, God’s very own possession...." 

That means we shouldn''t be cussing like sailors or falling over drunk at social gatherings.  Our employers shouldn''t worry that we will cheat on our expense reports or steal company supplies.  Our professors should expect that we will prefer an honest B rather than plagerize to get an A.  Our young men shouldn''t expect girls to sleep with them when they "haven''t put a ring on it"...and actually married them.  And our young women shouldn''t dress in a manner that leaves nothing to the imagination.  In other words: We should want to be a Lamborghini not a Toyota!

But the truth is, its not always easy being a Lamborghini.  Sometimes it can even be downright lonely at times.  Others may mistake our high standards as being ''standoffish'' when nothing is further from the truth.  Instead, when you serve an excellent God, your desire should be to be like Him.  When we model His behavior, it will draw a different kind of crowd and the ''Toyota crowd'' will lose interest.  When that happens, it may feel lonely at first but we are never truly alone.  Not only does He provide His Holy Spirit as our permanent companion but soon He will send other Lamborghinis to travel alongside us.  God is the first to acknowledge "it is not good for man (or woman) to be alone."

Yes, we were created to be uniquely different.  So instead of being just like everybody else, lets dare to be different.  There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow with all its splendid colors.  And there is nothing more awesome than seeing a Lamborghini soar! 

"But you are not like that (godless people), for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9)