Common Era = Common Bowl of Crap

One popular thing to do nowadays, at least in the sciences, is to replace the common phrase B.C. (before Christ) with BCE, that is, Before Common Era.

Help me not to throw up a little here. In an attempt to rid the calendar of Christ (you know, that mean, fascist monster from the Galilee) some people who know better and/or are frightened of this man have replaced him with a Common Era.

Now here is a question or two. What the heck is a Common Era? An era we all have in common? What was it before that, an Uncommon Era? What suddenly makes it "common"? Does this Common Era apply to all people everywhere on the planet, unlike that eurocentric BC? If not, why not? If so, how?

Face it. This is a ridiculously asinine attempt to push Christ out of the picture - again. When will it end? Someone has to grow up soon - before I self-ignite!

Common Era Advocates: It will be OK! You needn't panic! Using B.C. (or God forbid, A. D.) will not give you some social disease! Move along citizen, nothing to see here!

How to Lead Hundreds to Christ - Everyday.

I heard someone say a while ago that when he came back from Mississippi from helping Samaritan's Purse in their attempt to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina that someone asked him before asking anything else, "How many did you lead to Christ?"

Ahem. Tell me this isn't an intimidating question. What this person is saying is, "I don't really care what you did to help, or how many you helped, or about the sacrifice you made to do it all, I just want to know how many people you led in prayer to accept Christ."

He meekly answered, "None."

I think he should have answered "dozens" or "hundreds." I have a couple problems here that I think we should start dealing with.

We Christians in America have completely redefined what it means to lead people anywhere. Remember the phrase, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"? We can lead without forcing the last step!

We can lead someone to the throne by delivering the best apologetic for the faith, or answering their concerns, or comforting them, or rebuilding their home, or helping them load the case of water into their vans, but we can't make them fall on their knees.

The Holy Spirit causes all this change on the inside. We are privileged - profoundly privileged - to play even a small role in that. But it is He who calls them.

And we lead people to Him - or away - all day long in all sorts of ways. Our lives are signposts pointing the way. We are stepping stones on the path to Him. All of us followers of Jesus are leading people to Him all day long in all we say and do.

I pray that each day I am leading 100+ students to Christ. And another hundred on the freeway. And a couple at the drive-thru at Jack in the Box. I pray I am every day leading my family to Christ when I get home by how I act and react.

The list of how many people we are leading to Christ is endless. Let's focus on the leading.