What’s In A Testimony

On Saturday, I had a pleasant experience happen to me that hadn’t happened in a long time.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need this experience every day, nor am I somebody who thinks he’s “somebody” that everyone else needs to recognize, but it was just something that happened that used to happen quite often when I was a pastor of a church.

Let me explain. One of the smaller churches in our area, one that is out on the highway, was doing what Baptist churches call, “canvassing the neighborhood” in hopes of encouraging folks who aren’t involved in any church to come to theirs. Churches I have pastored have done this many times.

But about eight people, two men, two women, one teenager, and a few children, were walking on the street in front of my house. I had the front living room blinds opened and could see them and as I looked through the window. I kind of wondered if they were looking at me since they looked in my direction.

Maybe they could see me looking at them, I don’t know. But before I could walk back into the kitchen, there was a knock on my front door. Now, my wife had gone to a wedding shower at the time, so it was just me that was home.

When I opened the door, there stood one of the women in the group and her young son. I’m assuming that one of the men was probably her husband and the pastor of the church, and the other was his assistant.

Anyway, she introduced herself and what church they were from, and then invited me to come and visit their congregation. She also presented me with a simple “door knob hanger” that they probably hung on the doors of people that weren’t home.

I was impressed with the simplicity of the hanger as it had the name of the church, their website, their service times and location. But the thing that struck me and caught my attention, was what she said to me.

Again, I haven’t heard this designation for quite some time. I used to hear it all the time when I was a pastor of a church. Whether I went to Walmart, to the grocery store, or, sometimes even met someone I didn’t know and they didn’t know me, I would hear the question, “You’re a pastor, aren’t you?”

Sometimes it would come in the fuller designation, “Aren’t you a pastor of a church?” I would answer, “Yes, I am.” And they would respond, “I thought so.” I used to wonder if there was some invisible “halo” hanging over my head (which is ridiculous) or something that was shining through my countenance?

I hadn’t done anything or said anything, but the person behind the counter would offer that question. You know, the scripture tells us to “be careful because we might be entertaining angels unaware”.

Well, I’m no angel, believe me! I struggle with sin and temptation just like you do, so I’m no better than anyone else.

But because I was a pastor of a church, something about me or my countenance would come shining through.

Like I said, I hadn’t heard that nomenclature about me for a long time, though I have heard it a few times, but few and far between, know what I mean?

I didn’t know if she had known me or of me when I was an actual pastor, and not a retired one, or that “it was my brilliant shining personality” (ha) that came shining through, but it was nice to hear, and took me by surprise.

It was just one of those blessings that come from the Lord, and indeed, it was nice.

One of the descriptions of the early church in the book of Acts is, “See how they love one another?”

And another is, “Believers were first called Christians at Antioch.”

So what I’m trying to share with you is that you never know when or where someone is watching you.

You never know what they are going to think about you, so you best be on your best behavior everywhere that you go, because someone may just be watching you and then ask you, “Aren’t you a Christian?”