But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

I came that they may have life, rich and satisfying.

Galatians 5:22-23, John 10:10

Four generations of Maul men in one photograph is a big ask. Especially when my parents have just one grandson, he lives thousands of miles away in the Middle East, Covid pretty much shut down travel for a couple of years, great-grandpa David turns 94 in a few days, and my grandson’s name and face are carefully protected when it comes to social media.

But we made it! The faces in this photo were born in 1928, 1956, 1982, and 2019.

As a blogger with the opportunity to reach a lot of people, a men’s ministry advocate with a national voice, and a columnist (for All Pro Dad and now Christian Grandfather Magazine) one of my goals is to encourage other men to live in such a way that the Good News shines with signal clarity.

One of the most effective ways we can do this is in and through family relationships. If the allow the light and the love of Jesus to fill us up to the extent that it can’t help but spill out and splash all over those around us, then the the truth of the Good News will make itself known.

This means that our primary responsibility, always, is to cultivate an authentic and active relationship with God ourselves. Then the spiritual fruit that we produce – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – is going to do the critical work of evangelism.

Because evangelism is, most essentially, “telling the good news story.”

If I begin my day in the presence of God – via devotion, prayer, and worship; if I consciously invite Jesus to walk with me, moment by moment; and if I then live in response to the beautiful truth that Jesus invites me into abundant life (more and better life than we could ask or imagine)… then I will quite naturally engage my responsibility to pass on the Good News.

I think we often miss the most straightforward path that God has laid out in terms of sharing the story. Jesus is God’s invitation and we – by extension – have that opportunity/responsibility too.

I want my grandchildren to see that love and light in me, and I want them to be invited to follow Jesus because the evidence they see is so compelling. – DEREK