Becoming John 3:16 Billboards

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 is one of the most recognized verses in the Bible. Most kids who have set foot in a church know this verse. You see it on bilboards, T-shirts, and at almost any sporting event you can see the sign held up some place in the stands. My prayer is that I can be a John 3:16 billboard. That when people see me I am pointing them toward Jesus. 

 

I have a 5 year old son named Brayden.Brayden sticks out in his classroom, because he is as big as most the 3rd graders. Not only is he huge he is also autistic and kind of talks funny. So he gets a lot of stares and gets made fun of at times. Even adults expect more out of Brayden because he is big. Trips to the store often earns us plenty of stares, looks and people shaking their heads.

But Brayden has some really cool things going for him. He loves Jesus. Jesus calms him and he knows Jesus helps him through hard times. We pray at bedtime and when we don’t Brayden struggles going to sleep. When we pray for him his mind slows down and sleeps almost instantly. We pray in the morning waiting for the bus and we ask Jesus to help him through the day. Brayden is starting to pray on his own. The other day he told his mom that he wanted to pray for the mean kids on the bus and then he did it. It is awesome to see him praying for me his mom and other people. Not when we ask him to, but when he feels led.

Brayden is the most caring and compassionate kid in his school. He is the first to help someone when they are hurt or drop something. He now gets hugs from all the other kids when he walks down the hall. He took a new kid on the bus back to the mean kids and said this is my new friend. He is new and don’t be mean to him. Brayden gets it. Brayden in his own way is living the way Jesus wants us to live. Although Brayden has not accepted Jesus in his heart, that we know of. He knows that he needs Jesus to make it through the day. Brayden knows he can’t do it on his own.  And neither can you or I. I am not a good person without Jesus in my life. He has changed me and he wants to change you.
 

When we accept the gift of Jesus he starts to make changes in our lives and we start to become like him. We should become billboards that point people to Jesus. We should be living John 3:16 signs at sporting events, to our neighbors and in our places of work. We also get to live with Jesus for eternity in heaven.