This month is especially exciting for me because this month we celebrate 25 years of ministering in south St. Louis! Our good friends Carlos and Miriam Velez will be our quest speakers on May 19th as we gather to celebrate 25 years of God’s faithfulness in allowing us to be one of His lights in this city! After the service we will have a fellowship dinner to continue rejoicing our God’s goodness to us. Please invite your family and friends to join us that day!
Speaking of God’s faithfulness to us for the past two-and-a half decades, I have to share this story with you. I was standing in line at the stadium waiting to buy tickets for Maria and me to go to the Cardinals baseball game. The night before the game I even planned what to wear to show my love and passion for my St. Louis Cardinals. I was feeling pretty good standing there sporting my Cardinals baseball shirt along with my matching baseball cap. I even had a Cardinal tee shirt under my red Cardinal Jersey. I thought to myself as the line slowly progressed toward the ticket window, “Yea that’s right baby I am sold out to this team, I am not just a seasonal fan but I am a follower of this team. There is nobody here that shows more commitment to this team than me!” That’s when I looked down and noticed the guy standing in front of me had a Cardinal insignia tattooed on his leg. Whoa! now that is radical. I couldn’t compete with his love and passion for the St. Louis Cardinals. I mean when I get home after a game I change my clothes and you can’t tell I’m a fan at all, but he will always have that tattooed stamp on his leg wherever he goes. No matter if we are in last place or first place, in the good times as well as the bad, his love for the team will be evident. Even when the baseball season ends he will continue to show his love for the St. Louis Cardinals. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of us show up at church once or twice a month and think that we are followers of Jesus. We fool ourselves by throwing a few dollars into the offering plate and walk away thinking we are givers. Wearing crosses around our necks doesn’t count for taking up our cross daily and following him. I had to admit as I stood there looking down at that Cardinal tattoo on this guy’s leg, that really I’m not the passionate fan I thought I was. We, like the young man who was sold out in his love for the Cardinals so much he got a tattoo of his team on his leg; must also have the love of our Savior stamped on our lives that wherever we go and no matter our circumstances, people will know whose team we are on. They need to see Jesus in our lives twenty four/seven. Let me put this in another way. Jesus today still bears the scars of his love and commitment to us in his body. The nail scars and the scar where he was pierced on his side will show for all eternity his love and commitment to us. What does the world see when they look at us? I for one want them to see Jesus. As I watched the young man walk away I prayed, “Lord, tattoo me with your love in my heart today so that the world when they see me will truly see you.”