All those convicted please rise.

Today was another awaking for me. I say "another" because last Sunday was an awaking for me as well.

Hannah and I came out to Longview, TX to visit Paul and his family for the weekend. Arriving just in time for a southern cooked meal by Paul's mom. I really should say we arrived just in time for THE southern cooked meal :) It was so gooood! Fried pork chops, cream corn, and potatoes with a coka cola made what is commonly referred to as, southern hospitality. At the end of the night my cheeks were so sore from all the laughing and jokes that went on.

This morning we went and visited Mobberly Church with Paul. Going there with the attitude of, "Oh I'm just the visitor, gonna hang out and see what's up." Little did I know what God had in store for me. The pastor did not even get half way through his sermon before I heard the little angel in my ear sayin' "You know he's right don't ya?" It was a moment where I didn't even have to hear the rest of the sermon to know that his words were aimed straight at me. I swear he even looked at me when he was making a point in his sermon.

It was one of those sermons that you've "heard a million times" but that is always so convicting. His sermon was about workers in the work place. He told a story about an attendant on Southwest Airlines who was dealing with an extremely irritant customer. She calmly and quietly helped the customer with his needs and went on to other things. A professor from a christian college saw the whole thing take place and promptly went over and thanked the attendant for putting up with the customer and for her great service on Southwest Airlines. She immediately replied, "Oh I don't work for Southwest, I work for Jesus. And the only reason I'm nice to that man is because of what Jesus did for me." After the professor picked himself up off the floor she continued to tell him about God and her relationship with Christ.

How often do we as Christ followers forget the other half of following Christ? When we get into the workplace we often do our duty and are proud of our example that we set. But the other half of walking the walk is being ready and willing to talk the walk. I'm finding that we often tell people they shouldn't do that or that they're sinning, but we rarely tell them why its wrong or who said its wrong. A lot of times we just hope our example is enough, but Jesus didn't even think His example was enough. If He did then we would not be saying, "Jesus said to not murder people," we would be saying, "Well Jesus never killed anybody so we probably shouldn't either." And what kind of example would that be?

All this to say, I was convicted and I want to rise to the occasion and make it possible for Christ to be the difference in people's lives.

And as the people in Longview say,

Love ya'll,

Jon