ENCOUNTERING JESUS

To encounter Jesus is to take on the name of Christ. During a sermon preached at our congregation, Dr. William B. McClain, Professor of Preaching and Worship at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., told the story of meeting a South Korean tailor in Itwaewon, Seoul, named Smitty Lee. Dr. McClain asked whether the name "Smitty" was Korean, and the tailor told the story of his life being saved during the Korean War by an American soldier from Virginia who was called Smitty Ransom. The tailor further explained a rather familiar custom in that Asian culture, and summed it up in two simple sentences: "He saved my life. I took his name." That is indeed what happens when we encounter Jesus; He save our lives, and we take His name.

-- Zan W. Holmes, Jr. in Encountering Jesus


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