Pastor Ralph J. Mineo, St. Luke's Lutheran Church

A few years ago, there was a true story that appeared in the "Reader's Digest." As the story goes, Susan Baker of Shelbyville, Kentucky found a beautiful puppy that had wandered onto her back porch. Her husband was assigned the task of writing an ad for the "Lost and Found" column in the local newspaper. He first wrote, "Golden Lab, male, approximately nine months old; no collar, very friendly, found on Rockbridge Road."

But Susan was worried that the excessive detail might encourage just anybody to claim the dog. So, she asked her husband to abbreviate the ad and be less specific. This continued for a few edits. With each rewriting she suggested that the clues provided too much information. The husband continued to trim the wording of the "Lost and Found" ad. At last Susan's frustrated husband submitted an ad. It was actually printed in the paper just like this: "Guess What I Found?"

This true story can be a parable about the way believers sometimes carry about their faith around. We are capable of abbreviating our Christian faith to the point that the world is left to guess our commitment, to guess whether we're followers of Christ at all.

Believers have a testimony that needs to be shown by the way we live our lives. I certainly am not asking that we walk around being "preachy" all the time. I absolutely thinks there's too much "judgmentalism" coming out of the mouths of Christians today. When that happens so much, I wonder if a judgmental Christian isn't rewriting and editing the Christian faith in ways that make people miss the real message of the faith.

When you start your day, make a commitment that people will see you as as a follower of Christ. Show yourself, by your attitude, to be proud of your belief in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection. Be proud to be a member Christ's Church.

God forbid that our Christian witness is a timid "Guess Who I Am!"

No, let us embrace what St. Paul calls us to: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Everything? Seriously? YES! EVERYTHING!