Thoughts On A Given Day

I have been wearing a certain piece of jewelry since January 5th, 1980. It is my wedding band, and I have worn it almost every day of my life since my wife first placed it on to my finger so many years ago. I say, almost every day, because there was a period of time when I did not wear the ring. That time occurred while I was serving in Iraq with the United States Army. The Army frowns upon rings and other sorts of jewelry, because they consider them dangerous, and they consider them a threat to the health and welfare of soldiers (the threat of electric shock, loss of a finger, things like that). I had been a member of the Army National Guard for a long time when I was deployed to Iraq, and I had always faithfully ignored the rule about no rings, but upon my deployment into a combat zone I adopted a different attitude. I took my role seriously while I was there, and I tried to follow the guidance that I was given, because I truly believed that my best chance for survival was to serve with diligence, and to abide by the rules, regulations, and other general guidelines that pertained to a soldier serving in a combat environment. I assumed that those who gave the guidelines knew more than I did about survival in such a situation, and I assumed they had valid reasons for the guidance they gave. So I followed the rules. When I arrived in Iraq, I removed the ring from my finger, and lacking any formal wall locker at that time, I placed it in what we called “the black box” – a large, heavy duty box, capable of being locked, that was far too heavy for anyone to carry out of the room without someone noticing. Anytime I went on a mission my roommates knew where that ring was in that black box, and they knew that, should anything happen to me, they were to cut the lock off of that box and send that ring back to my wife with an explanation of why I did not have it on my finger. This practice continued for approximately six months. In case you haven’t heard, it is generally somewhat sunny in Iraq, and most days it gets rather hot. Any portion of my skin that was exposed to the sun grew perceptibly darker from tanning while I was there. That included my hands and my face. Everything else was usually covered almost all the time.
After approximately six months of this, I noticed something that I had not expected to see. I noticed that, other than being more tanned, my finger did not look any different than it did the day I removed the ring. It had been on that finger for so long that the indentation remained as though I had just removed it a moment before. It is my belief that, if I were to remove the ring now, and never put it back on, I would always be able to see the mark of where it has been for all these years. As I stated, this was not something I expected to see. I had watched TV shows and movies plenty of times that depicted married men taking off their wedding bands and pretending to be single. This had always been portrayed as an effective ploy to fool the unsuspecting woman, because, apparently, in the movies, the ring leaves no trace once it is removed from the finger. During my time in Iraq I found this not to be true for me. The ring has been on my finger, representing an extremely important part of my life, far too long for it not to have changed the finger where it was placed so many years ago. Removing it did not change this reality. I have been wearing the ring for so long now that the evidence of its presence is always with me, always there on my finger for anyone to see. That day in Iraq I took the ring out of the black box and slipped it back on my finger where it belonged. I knew it meant far too much for me not to wear it any longer.
Our relationship with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can, and should, change us like that. We should be able to see and sense changes in ourselves if we are Christians, and others should be able to see those same changes. In 1988 I was working as a security guard on third shift in front of a hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, while I was in school full time (again) retraining myself for a career change after having been laid off from my previous career. I always worked with the same crew of men. They were all, like me, ex-military, and we got along just fine. When I was finally ready to graduate from the school and move on to a full time job in my new career, one of the men with whom I had been working for that year said something to me that I have never forgotten. He, himself, was a Christian, and he told me that, even though I had never mentioned that I, too, was a Christian, he had been able to see in the way I interacted with others that I was one. I know that he intended the comment as a compliment, and I accepted it as such, but, as time has passed, it is a comment that has caused me to ask questions of myself.
What was it he saw in me that let him know I was a Christian? What were the visible signs of Christ during my interactions with others? What should one see as an outward expression of faith in someone who is a Christian? What are the marks of Christ (and no, I do not mean nail prints in the palm of my hands or in my feet), like that left by my ring, that time will not erase? I was also left with another question, however, and it is the one that has troubled me the most. Why had I not spoken a word about my faith during my time at that job? Jesus has said that he is the vine and we are the branches. He has said that if we abide in him we will bear much fruit. What is that fruit?
I cannot say what my coworker saw in me during that time of my life on third shift as a security guard. I like to believe that he saw the love of Christ in my actions. I am glad that it apparently provided some witness to my faith in spite of my lack of verbal testimony, and I will confess that I do not believe that all witness is verbal – but I do believe that it is hard to lead someone to Christ without it.

John 15:5
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.
Galatians 6:10
New International Version (NIV)
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.
Galatians 5:14, 22-23
New International Version (NIV)
14 The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
1 Timothy 6
The Conversational Gospel
Pursue righteousness, pursue godliness, pursue faith, pursue endurance and gentleness, pursue love.
1 John 3:11
New King James Version (NKJV)
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Romans 10:14
The Conversational Gospel
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?