When I was growing up, my mom used to say to my brothers and me every time we left home, “You are an ambassador for Christ” (referencing II Corinthians 5:20). I began to learn what this meant when my high school choir was invited to participate in a competition in Prague, Czech Republic. My mom was to be a chaperone on this trip as well as an accompanist, and my parents planned a family road trip through Europe after the choir tour was over. What an adventure we had planned!

As the time for the trip came closer, I asked my mom what it meant to be an ambassador for Christ. She helped me understand that it means seeing every person you come in contact with as a child of God and that when you do this, communicating through love becomes natural. She told me that our job would be to bear witness to Christ’s message of the goodness of God that was already there in those countries. 

On the choir tour, it was really neat to see that my mom and I were able to help our travel companions learn how to communicate with love. The love expressed and the friendships built on that tour were recognized by the choir director and many of the folks who organized the competition. A few years ago I ran into that same director. She told me that there was something very special about our choir that had a deep impact on her and that she felt so blessed to have been able to work with us.