Lessons Learned on the Journey

Proof of Identity

I laid my passport and driver's license on the airport check-in counter. In this day of terrorism, travel demands proof of identity -- a simple process for most of us. Or so I thought. One New Year's Eve my perspective changed. Two Liberian refugees came for dinner. Our family listened with rapt attention to their story.

Civil war had forced them to flee Liberia. They found themselves living in a Red Cross shelter in Budapest with $12 per week on which to live. En route from Liberia to Hungary, a Yugoslavian official had taken their documents, and did not return them. They were left with no passport, birth certificate or official documentation of any kind -- no source of identity.

Paper and plastic serve as proof of identity in our society.

		Driver's licenses identify us with a picture and physical description.
		Valid credit cards identify us as reliable consumers.
		Passports identify us as a citizen of a country.
		Company security passes identify us as an employee.

So what is the proof of identity for being a follower of Jesus? Is it something that we can just lay on an airport counter?

"By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

The proof lies in our love.