Recognizable after thirty years . . .

I went to my thirty years high school class reunion this past Saturday night. Now granted, I look a great deal different than I did when we were in high school. I’ve grown two to three inches in height and several inches in width since I graduated. I now have a beard and mustache and a quantity of gray hair that I did not have thirty years ago. The other thing that was different was that I showed up at the reunion dressed as a clown (if you want to know why I would do such a thing, read my previous post.) The thing that I found most disturbing; was the classmate that came from the other side of the room from where we entered and knew exactly who I was. To say that it was a little unsettling is an understatement, especially considering that I had not seen this person for at least twenty years.
As I sit a think about that happening (which I have done a lot this weekend) I wonder if anyone else noticed a difference in me. I am now thirty years farther along in my walk with Christ. Did anyone else notice that I was different? Do I reflect the Master that I serve with my life? Was I living my faith out loud? Thinking back to Saturday night, I now wish I had had more time to spend with those that I graduated with so many years ago. It has made me think about how I live my life and about the people that I once surrounded myself with. I have been telling the students that I work with, that this time and place in their lives, they have the greatest opportunity to witness to the people they go to school with.
Maybe the only real reason that God had me go to my thirty year reunion in clown was to make me think about the opportunities that He will give me in the future. Maybe He wants me to think about opportunities to touch the lives of my class mates in a great way someday. I don’t know. What I do know is that in reflection, I hope the people that I come in contact with see a different Allen than they did thirty years ago. I pray that they see more of Jesus than they do Allen.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and who do you reflect to the world around you?