Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Things I Can Live With (and One I Can't)

If they come, decide it's not for them, and leave, let them say:

I wasn't a good enough speaker,
that I wasn't dynamic enough or conversational enough,
that I wasn't cool enough,
that I wasn't as engaging as the guy down the street,
that my shirt didn't match my socks,
that I wasn't wearing socks.

Let them say our band wasn't big enough,
or rockin' enough,
or hip enough,
or loud enough.
Heck, let them say it was too loud.

Let them say our group isn't big enough,
that our people aren't enough like them,
that our people are too much like them,
that there's not enough girls or not enough guys,
that we don't play games or have cool videos or enough special music.

Let them say we're too far away,
that we meet at an inconvenient time,
that we don't fit in their schedule,
that we don't have enough social activities.

I can live with all that and more.
But if they leave, if they decide it's not for them, never let them be able to say we didn't talk about Jesus.
Damn me if anyone is able to say that with any integrity.

And the other edge of that sword is:
If they leave because we talk about Jesus too much, I can live with that.

5 comments:

Scott said...

This is really good. I needed to read it this morning. Thanks

must_decrease said...

Amen and Amen

Sharpton: The Knight's Disciple said...

Is there, in general, such a thing as "talking about Jesus too much"? Especially at a church?

Jared said...

KD, I don't think so. But I know for a fact there are people who do think it's possible to talk about Jesus too much.

Sharpton: The Knight's Disciple said...

Oh, I'll certainly acknowledge that. I'll also acknowledge that in a secular workplace, one does have to be careful of "too much" Jesus talk. It's frustrating sometimes, but it's the world we live in...