Careful where you step! (Don't put your foot in your mouth...)

Hello folks!

It's been crazy busy (LIFE) lately, but I determined that I should take just a few minutes to say "Hello", and share something I've been chewing on...

I've titled todays entry "Careful where you step! (Don't put your foot in your mouth...)". Which, I suppose, could also be, "You have to "walk the walk", if you're going to "talk the talk"... and, hence, you should also be careful (how) to "talk the talk" if you are truly "walking the walk"... yeah, OK, NOW I'm confused! Did You follow that?!? I hope so...

Well, here we go... If you say that you are a Christian, you should be walking through your life as a Christian. IF you are a follower of Christ, your path,(actions in life), should follow the path He has directed for you, and reflect the conduct that He not only desires, but requires. Now, of course, we occasionally stumble, and fall down, but the key is to get back up, dust ourselves off, ask forgiveness, and keep trying to stay on the path. So, there we are... our actions should be pleasing to our Lord... and also be a witness to those who do not know Him. They say "actions speak louder than words". Maybe so...

...Our walk IS very important! Folks should be able to see Christ in us! We should be "walking witnesses"! ... And, many of us are. We just mess it all up when we open up our mouths and insert foot. When we proclaim to Jesus that He is our Savior, and we walk the walk, that's awesome! But, when we walk the walk, and then open our mouths to talk the talk to our unsaved brothers and sisters, things often go awry. We often are very harsh, insensitive, and judgemental. It is awful easy to spout out all the do's and don'ts to people, (even gently), and seriously offend the majority of them. If someone is watching your walk closely, and wants to know why you are walking (hopefully) different than others, it may suffice, initially, to just tell them that you are a Christian. It may not be advantagious to rattle off that you are a Born-again Christian, saved by grace through the shed blood of Jesus, etc., and if they don't accept Him too, they are all condemned to Hell! ...oh, and the list of "do's and don'ts"... whack them with that for good measure. ...Do you think maybe we Christians sometimes give Christianity a bad name? Well, I do. ...even when we are trying to do it in love. I know that most of you have heard of "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do?). OK! My point tonight comes down to this... "WWJS" (What Would Jesus SAY?!?). Let us not only ponder the paths of our feet, but also the ways of our tongue, and not let it go wild. Let's be sure to tame it so that it, too, will be an effective witness for our Lord.

There... now I just want to say, (carefully), to all of the folks out there who are'nt Christians, that I will try to choose (chew) my words carefully. I understand why, at times, I have had the start of a possibly great relationship with someone, only to have it disconnect as soon as that person found out I was a Christian. However, I DO ask you to overlook, or tolerate, some of my shortcomings, to the end that you might see (and hear) past me, to Christ, Himself. If, by some chance you should see me out walking, and are interested in the path I'm on, look beyond me, up the trail... that's where Christ is... that's where I'm headed...

There... Now, although I've enjoyed this time with you all, it's getting late. I'm getting sleepy... sleeeppyyy ...ssslleeepppyyy... Yah, I know, it IS obvious that I'm overtired! But, I'm not too tired to ask God's blessings on everyone of you. God Bless!

Stickman