Witness

"Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing." -Philippians 2:14-16

Go out and do everything cheerfully and be a breath of fresh air to the world. These things are not suggestions; they are what we are called to do all the time. It's a big job, giving people a glimpse of the living God. But I believe with everything I am that it is entirely possible and that we are supposed to be doing it daily. By following exactly what these verses state: 

• Doing everything not only without complaining but, cheerfully, without any hesitation or delay. Volunteer for things, do things with a smile, ask if someone needs help with groceries, or carrying books, shock someone and do the laundry or dishes before they ask you to.

• Going out into the world uncorrupted: pure, free of immorality, setting a good example. Don’t cuss, or listen to music that isn’t good or watch bad movies. I don’t need to explain that further, you know what isn’t good for you. And if you have a hard time deciphering, pray about it! It might seem ridiculous but the bible specifically tells us in proverbs 3:6 “Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; 
 he’s the one who will keep you on track.”  If you have to ask yourself: WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? Or even wear the bracelets (corny as they are), if it keeps you on track, and then by all means, use it!

• Being a breath of fresh air: inspiring, giving life and energy to everyone around us. Have you ever met someone who just drains you? You know those people who just suck all of the life out of you? Like you leave a conversation with them and you need a nap.

 Ok, how about someone who you leave talking to them, inspired to change the world. Those people who just light up a room and make you in a better mood just by saying hello in the hallway? That’s what we’re supposed to be! We are supposed to leave every conversation we have, every activity we do, having encouraged and given energy to every person we came into contact with.

• Carrying the light-giving message into the night: Now keep in mind this is the message version: other versions have this verse translated as: “holding firmly to the message of light.” Basically what it’s trying to get across is don’t give the message of Jesus up, don’t let the world tear down your beliefs or put what God has called you to do in the back burner because it doesn’t go along with your plan or what the people around you think your life should look like. The gospel is not just a ‘sometimes’ thing. Jesus shouldn’t control what your Sunday or Wednesday looks like, He should control what your WHOLE LIFE looks like. 

Holding His hand is being able to walk, but not without some support. Holding hands, means your connected, there's never a moment when you can forget whose you are, because you have Him right there. Of course, there aren't always days where you can be just holding hands. There are going to be days, weeks and even whole seasons of your life where it's not enough to be holding hands. There will be days when you can't stand up, when all the strength you have is just enough to wrap your arms around his neck. There are days where without Jesus holding you up, you would be on the floor. There are going to be days where you don't need to be held all together but maybe you need both His hands, guiding you one step at a time. All of these things are okay, you aren't ever going to get to heavy. But, when you finally get back to just needing His hand, there are going to start to be days when you get too confident. You will forget about all the times you have had to be picked up and start to doubt that you even need His hand anymore. But, as I have experienced too many times, you're wrong. You might let go slowly, losing one of His fingers at a time, until you are barely holding a pinkie and then it just slips. Because, when you get to that point you and Jesus aren't connected enough to be going the same direction. When this happens, it usually doesn't take very long to lose your balance. As much as we might try to be independent from God, we have absolutely no hope of standing without Him. But, of course Jesus doesn't take away His hand when we let go. Jesus has an arm that will never ever get tired. It's constantly outstretched, and whether we take it or not it will remain that way. Jesus, wants my hand and your hand, He wants to get you to a place where you can walk side by side, going the same direction, talking and listening and falling in love. But, you have to decide to take it. 

Bradley

He stands, with his guitar on the side of the Venice beach walkway. Surrounded by jewelry vendors, medical marijuana petitioners and fortune tellers. His friend with pink shoulder length hair and piercings all over, skateboards back and forth in front of him. He is sun-burnt, fore-head glistening already from the heat of the California day. There are others all around doing the very same thing, playing music on the street for whatever change the people passing are generous enough to toss into his guitar case. But, among this crowd he stands out.  He doesn't belong there and once we begin to talk to him it's evident that he knows that as much as we do. But, he is done with trying. After two tours in Iraq, three marriages and losing his daughter and last wife to another man, he is done. In between the songs, he tells us about his past, through standing around listening to him sing, we learn about all the brokenness he has endured. Bradley started out playing us songs that were filled with profanity, but as we continue to stand and listen to him, not saying anything he begins to fade out of the expletive filled songs and into worship music. By the time he finishes  Casting Crowns, "Who am I" we are in tears. At that point, we share who we are and ask him about his relationship with Jesus. He seems almost offended that we would question that he doubted what he was singing. As more people come around he starts playing some other music, laughing and joking with us again. We listen to him for almost two hours before we tell him we really have to go. Sensing we really are going to have to leave he plays one more worship song for the "Jesus Freaks". But before before we walk away for good, we ask to pray with him and while we do, Bradley puts one arm out to his side and has the other pointing up  to the sky-grinning and swaying. I have no idea how much we impacted this man, but I do know that the couple hours we spent with him, changed our lives forever. I have no clue where he's at, how he's doing or if he is any closer to God than he was that day. We probably won't ever know how he ended up, or if anything we did helped him, I can only hope that he remembers the "Jesus Freaks" who tried to tell him that he could be so much more.