Pig-Pen.He was just misunderstood....

So, this morning the sermon at church was on "Is Jesus being made known by our existence?"

Are we shining the light of Christ through our words and actions?

As the preacher began his sermon...I wondered how he was going to take a topic that is common and make it new or fresh. He is working on a series title "Disciple" and it is a deep look at what a true follower of Jesus looks like.

He began with a visual analogy that I absolutely loved immediately. It was simply a new twist on a perspective that hit me in the middle of his sermon, and which I still am churning around in my brain.

He said this, "The apostles where in his midst and followed and studied Jesus closely. They followed him so much that they were covered in his dust, consumed in his teachings and his work."

I in my mind immediately equated this with Pig-Pen, the wonderful Peanuts character. Pig-Pen was depicted as a boy who was always consumed by a cloud of dust.

Then my mind skipped around to the notation and idea of how awesome it would be to be covered in the dust of Jesus Christ. Then, I thought back to my experiences in serving God's Kingdom. This idea struck me...we often find ourselves covered in sweat, dirt, and even tears when doing Kingdom work. I remember coming back to the mission house in Guatemala daily covered in dirt...so much so that my feet did not look as if they would ever be fully clean again. Maybe this is the picture of Jesus and his apostles that I needed to fully comprehend today.

So, my point I guess is that service in the name of Jesus comes with dust and dirt.

Jesus even uses mud to heal a blind man in John chapter 9. So maybe Pig-pen was just misunderstood in the Peanuts comic strip. He took a lot of ridicule for being dirty and this is the plight of the true radical Christian who is seeking to follow Jesus.

In my walk and service I should look like Pig-Pen....to be completely covered in the dust of Jesus' work. In the comic strip at one point Pig-Pen cleans up for a party and no one recognizes him...so let that be my prayer that I am not recognized when I am not covered in the work of the Lord. Let my actions and words shine the light of Jesus!

Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." - Luke 10:2