A Beautiful Accent

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." NIV Bible.

Yesterday, after our church service, I had the opportunity to spend some time in conversation with a man who was baptized in our service. He had moved to the United States from Scotland and he spoke with a beautiful Scottish brogue that reaked of masculinity and history. His accent made me feel as if I were talking to someone from another time and place and I secretly wished that I had an accent like his. He told me the story of how God had changed his life.....so much so, that he was now out of a job.....allow me to explain.

Before coming to know Christ, my new friend was a salesman. Apparently, he was a very good salesman and based on his own telling, had no problem decieving or shortchanging a customer in order to get the sale. After recieving Christ, he found that he could no longer ignore his conscience (apparently, the Holy Spirit speaks much louder than the unredeemed conscience) and started telling customers the truth about the product that he was selling. The company that he was working for did not like the fact that he was actually looking out for the customer and they eventually fired him.

I have to be honest, it was so refreshing to hear his story because in our American christian culture, I don't hear stories like his enough. It wasn't like he was trying to make some grandiose "stand" for Jesus. He just simply could not be deceptive any longer, even at the risk of losing his job, because he was truly a new creature acting out of a new nature.

I am so glad that my friend has come to Christ in America but I hope that he does not assimilate too deeply into the American christian culture because if he does, he may learn the fine art of compartmentalization and learn to say things like "well, that's just the business and that's how it's done" or "this is just a necessary part of sales and everyone knows that exaggerating and telling half truths is what a salesman is supposed to do".

I pray that my new friend's beautiful accent will never diminish and that it will be symbollic of a life that people envy because it reminds them of the reality that there truly is another time and another place to be lived for.