You live a different life.

I was hanging out with my friend Matt the other day, and we were talking about life and family and work and stuff. We started talking about the weather and how weather changes affect people.

My wife, Michelle, for example LOVES the cool weather. Any day it is cool enough she will open every window and every door in the house just so we can feel the cool breeze. It energizes her. It makes her more productive (her words). It gives her a pep in her step. She LOVES the cool weather! I, however, am not a fan of the weather changes. When the cool front blow in, I want to hide. I get cold easily. It makes my allergies act up. It causes me to loose my voice (which is how we make a living). I am not a fan of the cool weather.

As I was telling Matt all these things, and telling him about how we have to think about stuff like weather changes and how it affects our business his comment was "Wow, y'all live a different life." I asked him what he meant and we discussed it further. He told me how interesting it is that in our line of work we have to pay attention to things like the weather, how the time of year affects what we do, how we have to think about things that 'normal' people don't ever pay attention to. We had a good laugh, but it made me start thinking about his comment, "You live a different life."

Am I, as a Christ-follower, living a different enough life that people notice? Is my lifestyle different enough, that the people I come in contact with know there is something different about me? Is the way I treat my family and friends telling of my love for God?

It was a good wake-up call for me, a reality check of sorts, to remind me that I should be living my life in such a way that people who know me, and even strangers I meet would notice that I live a 'different life.' A life that reflects God's love, a life that is modeled after the greatest commandment, "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself."

So now that the cool weather is arriving, I will put on my sweat-shirt, load up on vitamin C and allergy medicine, and open all the windows and celebrate this wonderfully different life that God has called us to live!