Want to reinvent the way people think about Christians?
Want to start changing the reason people think Christians are jerks?
It’s not that complicated. In fact, I saw Usain Bolt do it this summer.
Remember him? He’s fast. He’s a gold medal Olympian from Jamaica. Sometimes people confuse me with him because I won an international table tennis tournament in Jamaica while on my honeymoon. (Wait a second, newly married wives don’t like when you disappear for a few hours on a honeymoon to participate in a Sandals Resort Table Tennis tournament? That’s some information I could have used prior to that week.)
How do you change the world in 3.2 seconds?
You do something kind that is unnecessary and unexpected.
Which is exactly what Usain Bolt did.
Before one of his races, he walked to the start line. He was on the verge of something he’d been preparing for his entire life. In a matter of seconds, a gun would sound that launched him and every one of his competitors around the track in a mad dash toward gold.
What did he do?
He turned around and fist bumped the lane official.
A guy most racers thought was invisible.
A guy most television cameras completely skipped over.
A guy that is so far into the background of the moment that he’s not even an “extra” in the scene.
Usain turned and did something unnecessary and unexpected. He didn’t need to do that. No one would have criticized him for ignoring the race official. That sort of gesture was not necessary or expected, but he made it anyway.
What was the result?
Joy.
Pure, unabashed, unashamed joy.
The picture tells the story.
That race official can barely contain himself.
Think it’s complicated to change the world? It’s not. All it takes is changing one person’s day, because changing the world always starts with a single person.
Life change leads to world change. That’s the pattern.
Ready to reinvent the way people see Christians?
Be kind in a way that is unnecessary and unexpected.
