Do you ever get mad?

I once ran into a man while running a Collide errand. It was a true miracle story. The long and short of it is that I was with a volunteer looking for flowers for a conference and this man walked right up to us and donated thousands of dollars worth of flowers for all the women attending the event. It was an amazing experience. There’s more to tell but I’ll save that for another day, what I want to share with you now is that he looked at us and said: “You know, we should all get MAD every day.” At first, I had no idea where he was going and then he cleverly added his punch line: “We should all make a difference.” He proceeded to get a sharpie pen out and write MAD on our hands in the checkstand line at Michaels Craft store. It was a hilarious moment.

And he is right. We can, and should, all wake up every single day and look to make a difference. My ultimate hero is Jesus and when I watch Him, everywhere He went, everyone He ran into, He made a difference in their lives. He collided with lost people and in one run-in, they felt found. He ran into lepers and in a millisecond, they walked away more whole. Jesus showed up to parties with “sinners”, the ones who the religious folk looked down upon, and they left His presence feeling worthy and seen.

Jesus made a difference wherever He went.

And He calls us to. We know this, but a few things often happen. One, we downplay the difference we can make. We look at other people and spend time thinking about how big of a difference they are making and how little of a difference we are. Or we get so caught up in our tasks, our to-do’s, and responsibilities that we forget the people who are right in front of us, are what matter most.

So I want to pop in today and get out a sharpie and write on your hand: M A D

Let this remind you, that you, yes you, have the great ability to make a difference in someone’s life. I don’t care if you’re a plumber, a baker, or a preacher. I don’t care if you’re 18, 45 or 89. I don’t care if you feel weak, messy, or fallen. You can make a difference today, all day, even in the menial, monotonous, ordinary tasks and in the sacred, set-apart, once-in-a-lifetime moments. You can make a difference with a hello or at a business lunch. You can make a difference on the playground or by texting a friend right now.

Let’s get so convinced of this one thing, that we start living like we can. And then, let’s start telling stories of how Jesus is showing up and colliding again, and using us to make a difference!