Goodbye Summer

It's the beginning of another school year and I am not really looking forward to it. Classes start Monday and I don't even have my books yet. That's how much I am dragging my feet. I guess I need to get on the ball this weekend and get my things together. I am only taking two classes this semester and studying for a COMPASS test to get my math score higher. I think that will keep me busy enough. I hope you all are more excited about the coming semester than I am. Many of you have started your school year already and there are some who are still waiting to get started. May God be with us all!

Well, a new month and a new thought in mind....

Sometimes you don't fully realize how your testimony affects other people and how many people are watching you. Working at the pool as a lifeguard I am around very secular people. I try very hard to have others there see Jesus through me without me having to say anything at all. They all know I have my values and beliefs and they respect that. There are a few people I am thinking of right now who work there that -although they don't want to show their interest- are curious to how I, as a Christian, would react to certain things. Let me be a little more specific and try to explain because I am sure that made no sense at all.
One day I was sitting behind the desk and I had some Christian music playing. One of the swim instructors said," What group is that? I haven't heard them before." I told him it was DCTalk and probably not a group he would have heard before unless he listened to that music. He said, " Here is my take on it all.... I don't mind the people who go to church and all that. It is not something for me though. I just had a bad experience a while back and I don't care to know a whole lot about it." Note that up to this point I had never said one word to him about Christianity or my being a Christian or anything and he already knew. I could tell he wanted to continue the conversation so I asked him what had happened that made him 'turn off' to Christianity. He then explained to me how a few years back he was sitting in class and a few girls were listening to a song and he said,"Hey, I know that song!" The girls looked at him and told him that he didn't. He swore he did and told them the lyrics, and who sang it. They told him he was confused because they didn't listen to 'worldly music', they only listened to 'Christian music'. When in fact he had the song right. He pulled out his mp3 and played it for them. They still argued with him that he wouldn't really know the song because he listened to secular music and they listened to Christian music. After telling me that story he continued by saying," I had been interested for a little while about being a Christian and stuff like that but after talking to the girls and their acting the way they did with me, I wasn't interested anymore." I just looked at him and said," I'm sorry. Christian's who have a chip on their shoulder and think they are better than everyone else are the one's who give Christian's who really mean it and are trying a bad name." I then continued by saying," I don't want to force Christianity on you but I hope that you can see I am on of the one's who are trying and don't think I am any better than anyone else." He said," No, you're cool." He then asked, " You aren't gonna preach to me now?" I told him I wasn't going to. I said,"I'd love to talk to you about it sometime and answer questions that you might have but I am not gonna stand up and preach to you. I'll wait til you are interested again." Since then he has talked to me some about Christianity and the church I go to and what I do. I just hope he continues asking questions and I can find the right opportunity to tell him about Christ. I know it isn't the right time yet but I hope it's soon.

This story is a little bit different and this guy has a different background all together but let me tell you what happened that also caused me to remember people are watching and listening even when you don't realize it sometimes. The two of us had made a bet a while back and decided that whoever won the bet would be bought dinner by the other person. Well, I lost the bet and thus had to buy him dinner in the near future. He reminded me almost every day and if I wasn't working he was sure to text and let me know I owed him a dinner. After just a few days he text me and said, "I really want some cheesecake." I told him I'd make him a cheesecake instead of buying him a dinner if that's what he wanted. I ended up doing that and taking it to him just the other day. He text me later to say thank you and told me he had shared with a few other people at work. I text him back and said," Omg! You shared!" Now in my head the abbreviation 'omg' is 'oh my gosh' and after I sent the text I realized that not everyone sees omg the same way I do. He text back and said,"Ya know when I read your last text and saw you put 'omg' I read it as 'oh my gosh' because it was coming from you and not someone else." I text him back and said," yeah, I realized after I had sent it what people usually see it as but yes, you're right; i see it as 'oh my gosh." He said,"I figured you probably did but it was just funny because I have never read it that way before and I did this time without even thinking about it because it was coming from you." At that moment I was glad that I try to watch what I do and say around people because I was shocked that this person in particular even payed attention to me or the kind of person I am.

Now don't get me wrong. There are many times I fail in the area of my testimony and look back and wish I would have done something differently, whether it was something I said or something I did but it's always a good reminder to know people are watching you and many times they're curious. Try not to be a stumbling block to others. I am sure you have stories of your own that you could share about how your testimony helped someone else or caused them to ask questions and want to know what it is you had that they didn't!
I realize this post is not very in depth but hopefully it was a good reminder that people are always watching, especially if you are a Christian. They watch how you act, what you say, what you do, where you go, where you don't go, and so much more.

Before I end this post I want to leave you with a quote. "The single greatest cause of Atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

Until next time,
ActionJacksontheAngloSaxon