Jeff Flowers plays a mean drum at Little Flock Baptist Church.  I had the privilege of being part of the band with Jeff, Gabriel Hoskins, and Randall Skaggs for the singing portion of Wednesday evening services for a while this year.  It was a good time and good worship, playing with a talented group of musicians.

Jeff has been the main media man during many of Little Flock’s Academy of Arts spring and fall recitals since I came to Little Flock in 2007.  Jeff does what he does well, and I have depended on him to keep me on rhythm in the band and to make recitals run smoothly.

I consider it a privilege to call Jeff my friend.  He has a heart for ministry and strives for excellence whether it’s on the drum set or in the balcony running sound and light.

Jeff has a mop of curly reddish-blond hair that hangs way down his back.  Mostly he keeps it pulled back from his face.  But one morning during Sunday worship time, the camera focused on the drum cage, and there was Jeff with his hair flowing around his shoulders while he flailed the drums.  I leaned over to my Sweet William and said, “Look, Jesus is playing the drums this morning.”

Jeff told me he gets that comment often.  He definitely has the hair style of our expectation of Jesus, like the old pictures that used to hang in my childhood Sunday school classes.

The thought swirled around in my brain, “Jesus is playing the drums.”  Shouldn’t something similar be said of all of us who call ourselves “Christian?”

What if it was not just our outward facade people noticed?  What if Jesus shined so brightly during our everyday activities that people would notice and respond, “Oh look, Jesus is stocking shelves today.”  “Jesus is answering phones today.”  “Jesus is teaching school today”  “Jesus is constructing a house today.”  You get the picture, don’t you?

Someone recently sent me an email with this thought:  “Those who walk with Christ bring the presence of God to everyone around them.”

Thanks, Jeff, for demonstrating to me that our purpose in this life is to show Jesus to the world, whether that’s playing music for worship or fixing breakfast for my family or giving my best at the work place.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,” Paul tells us, “that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”                  (2 Corinthians 4:7)

The earthen vessel that I am is the sanctuary of the presence of the Almighty God.  Show Yourself glorious in me, Lord, show Yourself glorious!