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I am a Christian.

I read almost twenty years ago that it takes twenty years to make a man of God.  Now I don’t know how theologically correct that is but it stuck with me, one of those things you read and say really?

Now I’m all guy and I cannot help but relate my spiritual journey to one of the most sophisticated guys that really captures this process of development, Yo, Rocky!

What do we love about him?  He has no quit.  The harder he gets hit, he just keeps coming.  He gets knocked down and he just gets back up and keeps coming.  How do you fight someone who has no quit?

This Christian life is one of true grit. My dad use to say to me when I played football, “You must play with reckless abandon, with no regard for your personal safety.”  I’ve often thought those words applied better to the Christian life lived well.

I have endured more pain and loss than I’d care to admit.  My own conversion surrounded around the pain of sin and its effects.  The sin that brought me to my knees wasn’t even my sin, but the person I chose to give my entire life to.  How do you mend a shattered heart, even if it is your own?

Evil in the life of a person will either become an allure or an offence.  Sin is diabolical; it separates us from each other, God, and ourselves.  If it becomes our enemy it will still hunt for us, but it becomes the ground where greatness is made.  Not in giving into it, but in the resistance of it.

This fallen world will either make us proven in battle; worthy of a medal of honor or we will flee the fight. We are in a War, from birth to death. And the Lord shows us how to overcome evil and the evil one.

Selfless love is the path to life; He played with reckless abandon with no regard for His personal safety all the way to the end.  He combated evil around Him by making of himself a gift to all.  The relentless gift of self, literally bringing the world to its knees by love, he is the one that has gone before us and showed us how to live.

To be a Christian is the most challenging, painful, heroic thing any person could ever aspire to do. The next time someone asks, “What do you do? “, tell them, “I am a Christian.”

You are a Christian. Even say it right now at your desk, say it slow, say it thoughtfully, say it prayerfully, look up to heaven where you sit and say it to your Father in heaven.

I am a Christian.