Genuine

Today, through a series of seemingly random events, I had the chance to witness a young man named James be baptized. It was deeply moving to say the least… especially considering I know his story. James has been Buddhist his entire life, but today he made a public profession of his love for Jesus.

The path to this point is so special, and I could elaborate, but I won’t. The two most significant factors in this story is that his introduction to Jesus was not one that was overtly evangelistic. Kyle befriended him and began to invite him to young life gatherings, and over time he saw the love that Kyle and some others had for Jesus, but also how they lived their lives differently than most. Not to say they were perfect in anyway, but above all, they were genuine.

He continued to come around, and be engaged in their conversation, and be a part of their lives, but never made a decision to begin to follow Jesus, until a week ago. This is the other incredible dynamic to this story…it was his Buddhist mother who told him that he must choose, to either follow Jesus, or be a Buddhist, but he could not continue to do both, because his whole heart belonged to neither. You see, she had seen how wonderful the Christ followers surrounding James life and her life had been to their family. She experienced the genuine love and kindness that they showed, without expectation of receiving accolades or acknowledgment…She had simply seen what it means to live out the way…and so, even though her faith has not yet changed, she instructed her son to choose who he would follow, and he chose Jesus.

I have said this many times in many ways, even using this unique and interesting venue of a watered down on line diary, but the fact remains, it is only by living out our faith in genuine surrender, do people truly become dynamically influenced by them, and then lives are radically altered…

So, will we live this faith? Because our lives are an open book, and everyone we engage or encounter is reading… who will be James in your story?