One of the joys of our trip to visit Taylor was meeting some of the friends he has made over the past three months. One of the greatest blessings of a child of God is fellowship in the Body of Christ. From the end of September to the week before Christmas in Kona, two hundred fifty people prepared to go into all the world to share Christ through word and deed. Brothers and sisters from Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Korea are now Taylor’s dear friends. Living and working together can be a challenge for members of the same community, but when people come together from different states and different nations new struggles emerge. If we resist our natural tendencies to judge and criticize we’ll find God can bring unity. A couple of days ago in Cambodia, Taylor was very sick from food poisoning. I’ll spare the details he shared in an e-mail, but our son credits a teenager from New Zealand with helping him through a difficult time. When he first met Andy in September, Taylor thought he was the strangest kid. Now they are great friends.
Besides missionaries, Taylor also met many who lived on the big island of Hawaii. In the evenings he often walked half a mile to the sand volleyball court to play with the locals. He found some outstanding beach volleyball players and several of them became good friends. During our visit, it seemed everywhere we went someone would yell out Taylor’s name or come over to shake hands. Several had him into their homes and demonstrated great hospitality. Most of these guys are not Christians and some even shared that they often witnessed people claiming to be Christians who lived no differently than they did. I told Taylor he couldn’t control the example others had been, but such comments prove that people do watch the lives of those who claim to follow Jesus. Perhaps the way we live speaks much louder than the things we say.
This year I just want to be like Jesus. He lived without pretense. He treated people with kindness. He told the truth with the right motives. And He taught us how to live. I think Rich Mullins lived a lot like Jesus. He died in a car wreck a few years ago at the young age of forty-one, but his songs still encourage thousands today. Here’s the chorus to “Brother’s Keeper”: “I will be my brother’s keeper… not the one who judges him. I won’t despise him for his weakness… I won’t regard him for his strength. I won’t take away his freedom… I will help him learn to stand. I will be my brother’s keeper.”
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2