As it turns out, this week’s Church Boy Blog (and I will state again, UNofficial) had an assignment that didn’t really turn into a good writing assignment like those past.  It did discuss some things that have been bugging me lately and pointed me in the direction of some pretty inspiring and useful examples from Scripture to get me fired up for some future gigs that we’re taking on.  Let’s get on with the show.

Today’s Scripture for my notebook was Romans 1:16-17:
“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – Jews first and also Gentiles. The Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’ “

The assignment was to list someone you want to witness for, someone you care about deeply and want to help out in this way. I did that, and while I struggled with the thought of including that portion in the blog, I’ve decided to do it, just not yet. There’s more to this. Doing some research about witnessing in the Bible led me to the book of Acts, specifically chapter 4. In this chapter, Peter, who not long ago denied Christ three times, and John are frantically witnessing and bringing to life those who were dead in spirit through the name of Jesus Christ. Two parts strike me in this piece of Scripture:

1) When confronted by the leaders and elders about their actions, speaking and healing in the name of Christ, Peter and John quoted to them a piece from Psalm 118:22: “The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” Aside from being one of my favorite verses, mostly on account of its usage in various reggae and ska songs, quoting this at this time was an awesome confrontation that indicates the elders obviously didn’t believe the Word they, themselves, claimed to live by. So often in our world the folks who represent Christianity to the world: those on TV, in movies or those who are notorious for doing some pretty un-Christ-like stuff, have not only given the world a sour look on our faith, but has also skewed the outlook of those who claim to be Christ followers. Too often are Christ followers blinded by the thoughts and actions of those who make you think a Christian is a certain type of person, forcing us to be fake with those around us and, indirectly (or often directly) making non-believers hate us even more. There’s hypocritical, outward appearance-only Christianity, or there’s real-deal faith and love that is expressed only by those who know the word and have the ability to interpret it as such.

2) It was noted that Peter and John were “ordinary men” with no special training or education. They were ready solely because they knew Jesus Christ and His love. So why haven’t I done more with my faith? A while back Erin wanted to go on a mission trip with our church and my reaction was one of immature faith and confidence. I told her I didn’t feel I was “ready” to do such a thing because I was new to true faith, though I knew who Jesus Christ was and loved to tell my story. So when does one become ready? Peter and John knew Christ – and that was all – and they were out sharing their knowledge, their experience and the love of the one they followed. Lack of experience or knowledge is certainly not a valid excuse for holding back the gift you’ve been given to share with the world.

With that, Erin and I have signed up to get information about serving at the church in the future, in creative areas, possibly culinary areas and in tech areas. On top of that, I’m going to email the person in charge of small groups tomorrow about setting up our own small group for artists and, finally – for now at least – I’m going to find a way to be certain that my parent’s names are in the Book of Life. I haven’t done well with this and all I have been able to accomplish is a series of excuses for why I haven’t said anything to them about it. The opportunity is there and always has been, I just have to have the guts to do something about it.

Here’s to doing something about it.