I drive the same route to my daughter’s school three days a week. I’m barely awake, usually still in pajamas, navigating one of the busiest main roads in this densely populated city.

The widespread cultural morning routine is easy to spot because everyone conforms: coffee, commute, phone check at red lights, get where you’re going―it’s a synchronized swim. Nothing and no one stands out. 

Except one day, the driver in front of me caught my eye. I saw a head bobbing and two drumsticks playing with conviction on a well worn steering wheel. If the light was red, the drumsticks tapped, and when it turned green they were set aside to be eagerly scooped up at the next stop. I laughed and carried on with my day, a little more amused.

When I saw this musician again on a different day, I could hardly believe the odds. Then it struck me―this drummer was a clear and memorable picture of the Christian life lived well. 

In a country full of people, all moving, thinking, and consuming the same way, it takes someone with particularly different habits and values, to stand out.

Not just oddity for the sake of attention―that headline fades quickly―but moving against the cultural momentum with faithful conviction, so that your message is unmistakable.

The percussionist’s message was clear even to passing strangers: he was passionate about playing the drums.

Is my passion for God that evident?

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life…And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

1 John 2:24, 25, 28 NIV

Could my Christianity be picked out of a crowd like that drummer? 

Does my affection for Jesus make me eager for time with Him, like the drummer grabbing his sticks at every red light?

Like that well-worn steering wheel, does the faith I profess result in a life of love and good works; evidence of what I believe and value?

Is my allegiance to Jesus steadfast? Can I be found walking out the same convictions every day of the week, like the routine of that dedicated drummer?

The world says “march to the beat of your own drum.” Jesus says:

If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it.

Mark 8:34-35

When we forsake our identity and take on the identity of Christ (Phil 2:5-11) we bear witness to the glory and worth of Christ, and like that drummer in morning rush hour, our striking faith will “shine like stars in the world” (Phil 2:15).