Greg Barnes

Contributed photo

BUIES CREEK - In his sleek, black and gray uniform, Greg Barnes, of Wilson, looks like any other veteran of the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

The preschoolers in our church's weekday learning center know something about proclaiming the faith with boldness. During their weekly chapel services, the children recite the lessons learned with deep conviction. At music time, they throw their heads back like Peanuts characters and sing the songs about Jesus that we have learned together. The four and five-year-olds even recite the fruit of the spirit whenever they see me in the hallway and I gesture our sign for a watermelon.

Recently, I had the privilege of leading a group of Appalachian State University students on a spring break mission experience in Washington, D.C. We worked closely with Eric Bebber, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary who ministers among the poor in our nation's capital. When we departed for our trip, I noticed that the students were particularly excited about the adventure. They were looking forward to interacting with the people who live in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States - all within just a few blocks of the White House.

The girl in the mall wore a T-shirt stating, "You're right - it is all about me." Her lack of humility identified her either as unsaved or stalled in spiritual infancy. Seeing her, I recalled Marsha, a young woman, four months pregnant with a second child by her second husband. She sought advice whether to divorce him before or after the baby's birth because she was having an emotional affair on the Internet with a man she loved during high school.

Isaac became a classic study in perseverance when famine reached Canaan. God instructed him to remain rather than flee to Egypt. Isaac persevered and complied (Gen. 26:6). Have you been there, done that?