Free with words... Too free, perhaps.

So, this little lunchtime post has been re-written about 15 times so far. It was completed last night, but seemed a little too intimate for the intarweb in the light of a new morning.

Therefore, I will post this re-re-redacted version of what I initially wrote: Briefly, it's a sobering thing to really stop and think about all the people God has placed in your life to influence. Many of us wince at thinking of ourselves as evangelists... Probably this is due to our own recognition of how short we fall of God's standard.

But, as Tim put it, we have a ever expanding sphere of people (like the wake of a boat) who are aware of our lives. When we struggle, when we fail, and when we succeed, there more people taking note than we ever really think about.

The thing that really rocked me is that so many of them probably only note the falls. I have a college buddy who's up to marriage #3 right now, and freely admits that there will likely be a #4. In his little world, he probably doesn't consider the times I rightly demonstrate a God-glorifying love for and service to my family. He couldn't care less about the times I resist temptation or the positive things I do in the spiritual lives of friends.

But if I slipped or really blew it, he'd see. And it would give him grounds to wrongly malign 'religion', 'faith', or (at worst) Christ. I've chosen to be indentified as a Christian - and that choice is not without a cost.

While we shouldn't be striving to please men, I think we do well to really recognize all the ways God has surrounded us with people. We are salt and light - but how salty and how bright, I wonder? With influence comes responsibility... I re-read 2 Timothy last night (it's short), having cited it in an earlier post. This jumped out at me, again: Clicky Here.

Coming soon... Something lighter and more materialistic!