we walk away calmly & they are dumbfounded.

James 2:18 "How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

I've read James countless times before, but this scripture just jumped out at me today. I will show you my faith by my good deeds. This means that we are displaying our Christianity in our actions. *duh* This is a scary thought. We're conveying our faith based on how we act. It's simple... but just let it resonate in your head for a moment. If you were to live a day watching your every moment, recognizing it was an open display of who Jesus is, would you be pleased? Better question... would HE be pleased? Tonite at church, I asked the kids in the youth group (during my five minute schpeel about serving) "If you could not speak, could people see Christ in you based on the way that you act?" It's more than your words. The action is more than just "going to church", as those hierarchial kings and queens of the church would think.

Matthew 25:40 says, "whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done unto me." Every minute that we encounter another human creation, we have encountered Christ. This includes the guy that cut you off in traffic today, the rude person on the telephone, the child that wouldn't quit screaming, the person you think is so annoying....... Reflect on how you handled it for a moment.

I try to remind myself that it's not the server's fault my food didn't come out fast enough; It's not the bank teller's fault that $300 was randomly withdrawn from my account; and my Grammy didn't mean to throw away that unopened king sized Reese's stick package I wanted to eat (that was SO sad. I got it for 89 cents and was so excited to indulge!!). In reviewing my circumstances and situations where I would naturally be angry and resort to being a hothead, I have to keep my cool and react with peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. These situations where most people get riled up, is when we can show the fruits of the living God that lives inside of us and be Christian without words.

It's doing what most people don't want to do, and I'm not even talking about helping the poor. ((Whew, that'll get me off on another tangent.)) Lets just focus on what we're doing every day with the people we interact with, and make sure that Jesus can been seen in it all. If they give us strange looks, we're probably doing something right.