Thursday, January 28, 2010

Skipping Rocks

Once upon a time there was a guy named Bob. Bob was wicked good at skipping rocks. He was the best rock-skipper in all the world.


Bob had two agents who represented him, Tom and Nancy.


One day this guy, Jim, wanted to see just how good Bob was. Jim was doubtful that Bob truly was the best rock-skipper in all the world.


Jim walked up to the first agent, Tom, and said to him, “I don’t believe Bob is the best rock-skipper in all the world.”


Tom immediately got very upset that Jim would say something absurd like that. Tom got so mad that he immediately listed tons and tons of reasons why Bob was indeed the best rock-skipper in all the world.


Jim wasn’t buying it. So Jim walked away.


The next day, Jim walked up to the second agent, Nancy, and said to her, “I don’t believe Bob is the best rock-skipper in all the world.”


Nancy immediately got very excited and said, “It really is something you need to experience to believe!”


This made Jim very curious to see Bob in action.


So Nancy took Jim to the stream where Bob showed up to practice each day.


Jim saw Bob throw a rock and his eyes welled up as he said, “Bob truly is the best rock-skipper in all the world.”



People sometimes struggle with the thought of God and even talk badly and raise really blunt upsetting questions about Him. When people do that, Christians’ first responses, most of the time, are to defend the name of Christ. That’s not bad. In that process though, we tend to get a little heated. If there is one thing I have learned about sharing “the good news” it is that, talk is incredibly cheap and anger brings out more anger. When Jesus went up to someone He said, “Come follow me.” He invited people to experience that He was and is God.


Talk is cheap. Anger is bad. When it comes to “the good news,” help people experience and don’t get mad if they raise some angering questions in the process.