Represent!

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I took a four and a half hour scenic train ride through the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee.  We began with a nice lunch in the dining car and then moved to our assigned train car - the cheap seats.  The seats were comfortable, but we had opted for the least expensive car with just ceiling fans and windows that could open to keep us cool.

We hadn't been seated in the car long when a woman came along with her two friends to sit across the aisle from us, escorted by a coach attendant who asked if this spot was suitable for them.  The lady very snidely said, "I guess you weren't listening when I told you I needed air conditioning".  The worker explained to the lady that the tickets she had purchased were not for a car that had air conditioning.  She continued to complain and he finally left and returned with the conductor to talk to her about her complaints.  I guess they finally got through to her that this is where she would be spending the entirety of the trip because there was no more interaction between her and the train staff.  However, that didn't stop her litany of complaints and criticisms of everything from the staff to the seat to the scenery as she talked to her friends throughout the rest of the trip.

Why am I telling you this rather uncomfortable little story?  It's because the whole time this woman was airing all this unpleasantness she was wearing a massive cross necklace.  My flesh so badly wanted to go over and ask her to please drop the pendant down the front of her shirt so nobody could see it.  I certainly didn't want people to associate Christians with being rude, entitled, troublemakers.

Cross necklace or not, if you are known by others to be a Christian, they are watching to see how you treat others, how you react under stress, how you serve your employer, and how you prioritize God in your life.  If you are as negative as the world, what is there in your life that would draw someone to Jesus?  Are you attracting people to the kingdom or repelling people from the kingdom?

Her attitude made me check mine.  We are walking testaments to the possibilities of how God can transform a life.  Let's represent Jesus in such a way that folks can see "Christ in us, the hope of glory".