A few weeks ago, one of the nurses left a message on my windshield, asking where I had bought my Christian “fish” symbol on the back of my car. (I bought it for totally the wrong reasons, primarily defiance and because I could, since I knew Dean would not approve – hardly an auspicious beginning.) So I bought her one from the same shop in the city, and took it to work and gave it to her. No big deal, or so I thought. She seemed very shy about letting anyone know what it was. (I thought it was just me that got embarrassed about being too “out there” with my faith.) So we managed the whole exchange without ever mentioning what it was that we were talking about, or showing it to anyone.
I went home that night rather sad – I think we missed an opportunity to show people that Christians are around, are normal people, are part of the workplace. We both wear crosses, but I don’t know if anyone really notices. The next morning I went to work resolved to do better.
One of the nurses from the night before said to me “So what was it that you gave Lorrie last night? She never showed us?” And my chance was before me – I tried not to blow it, not to sound overly eager, nor too self-conscious, just natural as if this were a normal part of life. I said “Oh it was a bumper sticker of a fish I got for Lorrie from a Christian bookshop in the city.” (Not bad, I thought.) Then the nurse got that expression on her face which reminds me of why I don’t generally do this kind of witnessing. She looked like I had mentioned something indecent in public, but was too polite to bring this to my attention. She quickly excused herself and walked off, leaving me thinking “Was I right? Was my judgement better last night, when neither of us said anything? And yet, why should Christianity be the one thing we can’t admit to in public?
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