Do You "Fit In?"

Last night at Pre-Teens, Jesse had a special message for the kids. Originally, he was going to talk about Halloween - history, the evils of, etc.; however, the Lord laid it on his heart to talk about the kids fitting in at school. Basically, it centered around kids making fun of other kids, using bad language or other acts that weren't Christlike at school. Essentially, do the kids stand up for Christ or just "fit in?" He went on to discuss how he had "fit in" at school, and then ultimately made sacrafices to make a stand for Jesus.

So when you are at work do you try to "fit in" or do you take a stand for Christ? For the longest time I just tried to "fit in." I would cut up and carry on with people at work using bad language and the like, but then something changed. At the end of 2003 I lost my job, and started a search for something new. Well, about a year after I started looking, there was a job opening at Christian Academy of Knoxville (CAK). When I was filling out the application, there was this question: What does it mean to be a Christian? After some thought I felt like I needed some inspiration so I watched The Passion of the Christ. This movie absolutely broke me into tiny little pieces. It was at that moment that I realized that I didn't deserve the salvation that had been given to me and that it was the ultimate gift. In addition, it made me see that I needed to change my behavior at work when I found a job.

After getting a temp job at US Cellular for a few months, I ended up at IJ Company a little over two years ago. It was here that I have taken a stand. Have I been perfect? No. However, I have been more intentional in my actions. I've made an effort not to use coarse language at work which has had an interesting effect on my co-workers. Once they figured out that I wasn't going to say bad words, some of them curtailed their usage around me. Others have apologized for using bad language around me. I've dined on many occasions with several different employees. I work with a lot of women, and went out with several of them recently for lunch. It was quite fascinating when one of them asked me to pray. It was interesting because I would usually instigate the prayer. It is almost if I had trained them. Now, I know some of them are believers, but a lot of believers don't pray before their meals. It was cool to rub off on them like that. But in the business world, I think that praying before a meal is uncommon and in some areas taboo.

With all this said I do make mistakes from time to time, but I really make an effort to avoid them at work. So I challenge you to take a stand at work and don't "fit in."