As most of you on campus know there is an event called Why Jesus? going on in the Amphitheater April 22 at 9p.m. With that being said most of you have probably seen purple Why Jesus? shirts scattered around on a “cornicopia” of students and teachers. I personally wear mine pretty much everywhere that I go, except for on Bowman for sun reasons, I wear it to class, baseball games, and to the gym to name a few places. Everytime I pass someone they usually give me the strangest stare, at first I thought people were gaucking at something that was in my teeth or that my fly was down, but then it dawned on me that they were reading the shirt and asking themselves Why Jesus? One of my favorite things to do is wait until I pass the person and then try to turn around real quickly to see if they are checking out the back of the shirt. I’d say about 96.3% of people that I pass all try to see what’s on the back of the shirt, which is great because that is where the website and date are.
For those of you who are wearing one of these shirts should know that there is a great responsiblity to having one on. The other day at the baseball game (in which we beat Carolina) I was sitting with my friend Matt who is a die hard Clemson fan and both of us strongly dislike the Gamecocks. There were a few unfortunate Carolina fans sitting behind us that kept making heckling comments about Clemson. Now being who we are, we both wanted to turn around and give them a taste of their own medicine. We really couldn’t say anything because of our shirts, how would it look if two college students started to chew out opposing fans and freak out when the umpire made a horrible call? People look at our shirts and wonder why should I come to an event in which people who support it are jerks, how important can Jesus be then? So everytime a situation would arise when one of us wanted to say something, the other person would calmly say “shirt” and that was our cue to rep Jesus well.
Another scenario with the shirts is the constant questioning of what they mean. For those of you who don’t know the event is all about answering questions about who Jesus was, why is he such an important name, is he relevant in today’s society, and is he for me? A local band called The Dirt and The Flood will be performing along with a guest speak, who will be giving their testimony, and final Jason Ellis will be speaking the message. I have had at least 15 random people come up to me and ask about the event, some of them were students, others were parents, and even a few workers at Schilletter, I didn’t know any of them. I’ve gotten the opprotunity to tell one of my classes about the event as well.
The reason there are so many things that go along with wearing one of these shirts is all in the name on the front; Jesus. If we went around wearing shirts that said The Body, which is the name of the group putting the event on, there is no way that we would have this many people wondering what the heck is going on. Perry Noble spoke at FCA tonight and during his closing prayer he told the auditorium to go and speak to any of the people with “purple” shirts and ask them Why Jesus? to see why christ should live in there life. This caught me offguard because at first I thought that he thought that we were part of FCA, but then I realized that it didn’t matter who we were associated with. Hopefully every person that owns one of these shirts has a person relationship with Jesus Christ and would be willing to answer the Why Jesus? and feel comfortable with leading someone to chirst. “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:18-19) This is God’s will for us to go out and preach the gospel to everyone, no matter what the case is. Even though the event will answer a bunch of questions about Jesus, why not take the time and tell someone your personal testimony next time they ask about the shirt. Tell them how Jesus has impacted your life and even if you don’t lead them to Chirst, know that you have just planted a seed that might take time to grow. Just remember when you are wearing a Why Jesus? shirt, people are watching you and are increasingly curious about what is going down 4.22.09. Be like Chirst and share your story, because the name of Jesus is one of the most powerful names in our history.
I love yall and I still need to attempt to finish one of these posts before 2a.m.
I love it bro…we really gotta represent Him well cuz whether we know it or not, people ARE watching us and wanna see if our actions do fall in line with what we say OR what we wear.