Traditions and Customs

USGN article
by Terry Franklin
November 1997

Many of you who read this publication are in some form of Christian media and people are watching you. Even if you are not in Christian ministry, you have folks around you who watch every move you make.

Barbi and I attend a church here in Nashville every Wednesday night. This has become our "church" night because we are usually doing concerts on the weekends. We really try to be faithful to being there whenever we are in town.

Every church has its traditions and customs. Our church has a tradition that when the tithes and offerings are received, we hold up our little white envelope in the air as we are praying . . . kind of like offering it to the Lord. A couple of weeks ago, as I was holding up my offering, I looked over, and next to me stood my little nine-year-old son, Travis, praying as fervently as a little nine-year-old can pray, standing on his tiptoes, holding his one dollar offering up in the air to the Lord. He was mimicking me.

All around you are people who pick up on your subtlest moves. Your family is the place where you can have probably the greatest effect. I don't know how you feel about it, but that kind of scares me a little bit! Every once in awhile, I'll see a characteristic in one of my children that I wish were not there, and suddenly I realize it is strangely like one of my own. (Surely they pick that stuff up from some of the kids in the neighborhood, or at church!) Matthew 5:16 reads, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Furthermore, a lost and dying world is not only looking for answers, but also for some actions that bear out what we say we believe. Thankfully, God gives us a guide to follow . . . actually two. We have, of course, His Word which tells us how we should live, but we also have the example of the life of Jesus Christ.

Even though I am 40 years old, I hope I am like a nine-year-old kid in my heart - standing on my tiptoes, reaching up to God, and trying in every way I can to mimic Jesus Christ. That is what it's all about. God Bless You!

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©1998 Terry & Barbi Franklin.