Today (yesterday to you, dear reader) is/was Memorial Day. It should not be “party day”, another reason for a three-day weekend. The human cost on the battlefields is immeasurable, horrific. The grim reminder that history never seems to teach us lessons we remember. It was today (for you, dear reader) forty-five years ago that I flew to Miami for processing and enlistment into the Navy. Leaving behind family and a new girlfriend who I went on to marry, I leapt into the unknown. I entered basic training – “boot camp” in Orlando not even guaranteed yet that my designator had been officially changed from Personnelman (PN) to Musician (MU). In either case, it didn’t seem that I had chosen a rating that would land me on the front lines of any potential armed conflict. Even the possibility of sea duty was remote. 

Peter and John, in the days after the Pentecost event, knew what they were getting into. The risks were real as they witnessed to the power of the Holy Spirit. The Jerusalem authorities did not suffer these fools for Christ lightly! Many of us encounter light resistance to our gospel message, but for the most part, any threat is unfounded, existing only in our mind. That uncertainty hampers our testimony. Be yourself. Use your own story and believe that part of it, at least, might connect with your conversation partner. Let the Holy Spirit handle the rest. Don’t wait twenty years, forty-five years, even twenty DAYS for you to summon up the courage. Peter, John, and all the rest were very ordinary people. No special qualifications. That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is the reason we can leap into the unknown.  The unconditional love is freely given, full of grace and truth.

Pastor Art