Honor

This morning as we were wrapping up our 6am bible study at Starbucks a guy comes over as we were starting our prayer. I heard him standing next to me but he was respectful and waited for us to finish praying for one another.

After our prayer he looked at my friend Travis who is an officer in the navy and said "Sir, I saw your uniform and I wanted to thank you for your service." Then he shook Travis' hand and walked away. The man who did this was an older guy with biker gear on in Starbucks at 7am. Who knows his story or what he's personally sacrificed. We don't know if he's a believer but because of his sense of honor for our men and women in the military he took time to appreciate Travis.

Then I get home and shower and do a quick run through bloglines to find this post by Steven Furtick down in Charlotte. A Pastor in town flapping his lip about Steven's ministry.

It breaks my heart that someone who may not know Christ honors a man in the military while some Christians still get joy out of shooting their own comrades.

A few weeks back I (FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER) read to our people Galatians 6:6 "Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor." My friend John had spoke to our crowd that day and did a great job so I wanted to let our people know that they really should honor those who give their lives to communicating the Gospel to them.

I've left ministries before, I've disagreed with my share of leaders but I hope and pray I set an example of honoring those in authority and especially those on our team. Our western version of Christianity has a lot to learn from other cultures and even those like our biker friend at Starbucks who understands what it means to honor others in their service.