A few Sundays ago, like usual, I went to church.  After the service was over, I prayed a little longer, as is my custom, then walked out the door.  I had to stop at a store on the way home for items like shampoo.  After I checked out and was heading to my car, a woman stopped me.

"Excuse me," she started, "Did I see you at St. Mary?"

I smiled and told her I had been there.

"You always pray after the service is over."

I told her this was a custom my father had taught us when we were children.  We proceeded to talk about the service, the weather, and winter as we walked to our cars.

Driving home, I thought about how kind the woman had been and how she had recognized me as a Christian by where she had seen me.  How many people, I wondered, recognized me as a Christian without knowing where I spend my Sundays?  How many people recognized me as a Christian by my behavior alone?

When thoughts like this hit you, they require a profound shift in your life.  You might not overhaul your existence, but you take a beat, thinking, how can I show God's love better?  What can I do right here, right now, to help someone in need, someone suffering?

I started by immediately changing little things in my life.  I donated clothes, I became a more considerate driver, and I started praying for opportunities to truly help people.  If someone is in need, God, someone that I can help, please put them in my way.  And He has.  Whether it's getting the opportunity to pray for the recently deceased, giving children in need blankets to keep them warm, or driving a stranger walking in 20 degree weather across town, there has been abundant need.  And in looking for those situations with which I can help on a daily basis, I am noticing Him so much more in all the details of my life.

God has put the body together...that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

~1 Corinthians 12:24-26