The ad for Macy’s in the Christmas edition of the Times-Picayune indicated that those incredible neckties would be 75 percent off Friday morning. By 1 o’clock, however, the price escalates by 10 bucks, and later in the day, the price returns to normal. As I considered the crowds jamming the aisles of the malls and the overstuffed parking lots, reality set in and I realized, “I don’t actually need a new necktie.” In fact, most of the forty hanging in my closet never see the light of day.

This year, for the first time in memory, I received not a single necktie for Christmas. If that’s not a sign of changing times, nothing is. My grandfather Virge Kilgore once remarked that his kids thought he had nothing but feet and a neck, judging by the socks and ties they sent his way for Christmas. That was 75 years ago. We’re still wearing socks, but the neckties are going the way of cutaway coats and ascots for preachers.

I’m not complaining, though. Life is always evolving in various ways, on numerous levels.

The best story I’ve read in a while….

“Sister Mary, a home health nurse, was visiting homebound patients when she ran out of gasoline. As luck would have it, a gas station was just a block away. She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some gas. The attendant told her the only gas can he owned had been loaned out, but she could wait until it returned. Instead of waiting, she walked back to her car and grabbed the bedpan she was taking to a patient. Always resourceful, she carried the bedpan to the station and filled it with gas. As she was pouring the gas into the tank, two men watched from across the street. One turned to the other and said, ‘If it starts, I’m turning Catholic.'”

(from Pulpit Helps magazine, January 2009)

Random thoughts on sharing our faith with family members….

The program on NPR radio told of the “Ponzi scheme” shenanigans of Mr. Madoff, the Wall Street mogul now blamed with losing over 5 billion dollars of investors’ money. I’m tempted to make a little joke about his name and say that he “made off” with their money, but don’t think I will.

In a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, the perpetrators use money from investors to pay earlier investors, without ever doing anything with the money that is coming in to actually earn additional money. It’s a neat little plan at first, and that’s the attraction. But eventually, you run out of new people with new money and the house of cards comes crashing down.

The analysts say Madoff pulled something they called “affinity fraud,” that is, pulling in investment money from people of his group — in this case, fellow Jews — who felt they could trust him. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of the losses from the collapse of his company were among Jewish men and women and institutions they controlled.

A Jewish investor said, “We are taught that we have so many enemies out there, we have to trust one another.” Furthermore, he said, it’s easier to trust people who are very successful, as Madoff was. With the Wall Street credentials he had, the man came pre-certified. Even when some investors criticized him to the Securities and Exchange Commission, inspectors gave him the benefit of the doubt because of who he was.

While the radio program went on, I thought of Mark 5:19 where Jesus tells a newly healed and redeemed fellow he will not be allowed to accompany the Lord on His travels. “Go home to your friends and tell them what the Lord has done for you and how He has had compassion on you.”

Go to your friends. Tell them. Let’s call that: Affinity blessing.

As a young pastor, I recall seeing friends taking jobs in the insurance industry, jobs that seemed not to last very long. Then one day, I read an article explaining what was happening. Some insurance companies recruited young men and women as agents and trained them to sell policies to their family members and friends who would do anything to encourage them. Then, when they ran out of buyers in those circles, most of the young sales people grew discouraged and went on to other jobs. In the meantime, the insurance company had a number of new clients.

What shall we call that? Affinity manipulation?

When God called Barnabas and Saul as the first missionaries (Acts 13), as the leader, Barnabas was allowed to determine where they would begin their ministry. So, they went to Cyprus. Why? It was the stomping grounds of Barnabas (Acts 4:36).

On the second missionary journey, Barnabas took John Mark as his partner and headed back to Cyprus. Meanwhile, Paul takes Silas and they travel to Asia Minor, the territory where Paul grew up.

Going home and telling the family. It’s a grand tradition with great biblical precedent.

Some have said, “It’s also the hardest witnessing you’ll ever do. They know me!” The only proper response to that is: they do, indeed. So if they do not believe you, take a lesson from that. Let them see the change in your life so they will have to believe you. After all, if you cannot influence those who know you best to come to Christ, how will you have any effect on strangers?

Al Worthington was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins when he came to Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade decades ago. I heard him telling what happened next. As a member of a large family, over the next few weeks, he made phone calls to his siblings to speak to them about turning to the Lord also.

One of his brothers said, “Why, Al, I’ve been a Christian for 8 years.” Al spared no words. He said, “I don’t believe it. If you had been, I would have heard about it before now.”

The people you love best need to know what you value most. Don’t keep it a secret. Tell them what God has done for you and how Jesus Christ saved you from sin and made you a new person.

Gray Allison puts it like this: “If you have it, you’ll tell it. Do you have it?”