Witness

Well, here we go! Stephen (great name but wrong spelling) is about to become the first Jesus follower to be killed in service of the cause. And all he did was be the conduit for miracles from the Lord and share his experience, strength and hope. The word martyr carries the freight of dying for the cause, but the word actually means witness. It was a legal term (i.e. being a witness in a trial). It was the word Jesus used when he told the eleven they would be his witnesses starting in Jerusalem (right where they were) and to the ends of the earth (wherever they might by God go). It's all about being missionaries on our specific mission fields. That's all Stephen was doing. It's what the Lord expects of all who follow him. The call is to be conscious and to move, speak, act when prompted by the Spirit. And for that Stephen was brutally murdered. And all I have to suffer is making the effort to stay conscious about who I am and what I'm supposed to be up to, and seizing by the throat my fear of being thougth socially inappropriate. or intrusive and share what I have with Jesus. Lord, help me never forget that even in this post-modern world there are Jesus followers who are literally being killed all day long just for following you and going public about it.