MY FAVORITE GIFTS

A rare selfie of yours truly

 With Christmas of '23 being right around the corner, I'd like to talk about two of my favorite gifts that I received, both of which have a similar color scheme. 

Okay, I'll admit: Neither of these are Christmas gifts. However, I'll tell you why the two hold a special place in my life in two different contexts and uses.

You can't see my hand in the photo, but in that unseen hand is a cup that reads "Man of God" on one side and Isaiah 40:31 on the other side. (I'm sure you'll assume I'm holding that cup, because otherwise it's floating in space.) I received that when I was in a class dealing with church leader training led by Pastor Josh Jacobs at what was then Hunter Road Bible Church. 

I'm also wearing a True Revival T-shirt. Regular blog readers are probably aware that True Revival is a local band. They band is also in a Facebook group I've mentioned in this blog - "Holding Up In Prayer The Arms Of Christian Artists." Because of my focus on prayer for musicians, they gave me this shirt.

While the two look like they belong together color-wise, they both have different functions and reflect different areas of my life. Those two gifts might share a breakfast table with me before I go to work, but other than that, they rarely are in the same place at the same time.

The cup might travel (with assistance) back in forth between the kitchen and the dining room, but it never leads the house. Nobody except Becky see me use it. Having a "Man of God" cup is not a boast, but a reminder of who I am in Christ, and that "who I am" is internal. If I stood in a police line-up and someone was asked to identify the Christian in the group, it would be a guess because Christians don't look any different from non-Christians. We don't have a Rafael painted halo over our head. 

In other words, this cup is a reminder and a challenge for how I live my life. I don't want to live in a way that someone who saw me with the cup (including Becky) would shake their head and think "Who is he kidding?" I want my love for God and obedience to Him be my new nature, the bent of my thought. And this is personal.

The shirt? That does go out. I've worn it to work and to men's prayer meetings. I might go to the grocery store while wearing it. I want others to see the shirt. If I succeed in people getting interested in the band, great! But I also want to communicate to others that the Church needs true revival. 

Too often, the way Christians individually or churches as a whole act does have the world shaking their head and thinking "Who is he kidding? Christians are just as bad and selfish and argumentative as anybody else." We need God to revive our lives. And I want to be an encouragement to others to live that way.