W.W.J.D.

I've been wearing a bracelet that says "W.W.J.D." for about 3 years now. I first started wearing it as a tribute to my favorite golfer, Payne Stewart. I love to play golf and pattern my game after Payne's. Aggressive, but within my limitations.

Payne Stewart wore his bracelet as a testimony to his faith in Christ. Payne's wife Tracey described him as "a 'Christian in process,' not someone who felt he had arrived spiritually. He
never pretended to have the answers and probably didn't know what some of the questions were. But his faith was genuine, and as he understood the Bible, the issue wasn't about how much faith he had but whether his faith in Christ was real. And everyone close to Payne knew that his faith was real."

That's pretty much how I see myself. I am fairly new in my commitment to my faith. I'm not a new Christian. I was raised in the Catholic church and went to Catholic school from the middle of 1st grade to when I graduated high school. I was a good Catholic boy...I went to church, I got A's in my religion classes, I served as an altar boy all through school, I sang in the choir. But I always had questions and never seemed to get the answers that satisfied me.

After I graduated high school, I stopped being the "good Catholic boy." I didn't go to church anymore and I never read the Bible. I rebelled in a way. I went to college at Cal State, Long Beach, moved into an apartment with a couple guys I worked with and partied my butt off. I was having a GREAT time! I didn't need Jesus.

To make a long story a little shorter (I'll probably go more into the road from then to now at a later date), I've realized over the last 5 years or so of my life that I DO NEED JESUS!

So, to get back to the bracelet (is there a point to this post?). As I said, I first started wearing it as a tribute to Payne. But now, I feel like it is truly a testimony to my faith in Christ. It serves to remind me everytime I look at it, to stop and think "What would Jesus do?"

I've added a couple other bracelets in the last year. I also wear a red plastic (like the Lance Armstrong "Live Strong" bracelets) one that says "Live For Him" (that's how I came up with my blogger name) and one that has 6 colored stripes to represent the gospel story (Black=Sin, Red=Jesus' blood, Blue=Baptism, White=Cleansing, Green=Growth with God, Yellow=Everlasting life). I wear a cross around my neck and I also have my left ear pierced twice and in one of the holes is a small stainless steel cross.

I think some Christians question my motives for wearing the things I do (or for having the Jesus fish on my bike or the sticker on my helmet that I described yesterday). They might think that I wear these things like some sort of badges of honor, to show that I'm better than others because I'm Christian and I am saved.

"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!!!"

I wear these things for myself and only myself. To remind me of my commitment to Christ. I'm a very visual person and need to have images to keep my focus. Every time I look down at my hands and see my bracelets...I pray. Every time I reach down and hold my cross on my necklace...I pray. Every time I get vain and look in the mirror, I see that cross in my ear...and I pray.

Maybe people who see these things I wear do get the wrong impression. Maybe they do think that I think I'm better than them. Could that be the case?

What I want them to see is that I live my life with passion and that I am unapologetic about my faith and I want them to want that for themselves. I hope that by "advertising" being Christian that people might feel compelled to ask me about my faith. As I said earlier, I'm pretty new in my faith commitment and hope this might be a way to gain opportunities to witness to other people.

Just like Payne Stewart, I don't have all the answers and I probably don't even know most of the questions. I just know that I love Jesus and love what he does in my life so, I wear the "gear." Just like all these Cardinal fans in St. Louis who wear RED on game days, except I wear my "gear" everyday because everyday is game day with Jesus.

Peace