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This week Ivy was on vacation. So, Ernie and I carpooled to work. It was my turn to drive. I picked up Ernie standing in front of his garage and we were off to work. We’d just settled into our trek when Ernie said:

“I’m pretty sure I know what you want to achieve in your life.”

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“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked him, keeping my eyes focused on the morning rush hour traffic.

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“You don’t want to be someone who is considered just good, you want to be thought of as someone great.”

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“Yeah sure, that’s true,” I said.

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“So, okay, let’s make that happen for you.”

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“Sounds good, let’s do it,” I playfully answered. I turned left onto Oracle and headed toward downtown.

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“Alright, but first this warning, in order to do this, I mean to make great your everyday reality, you may have to dump some of your present thinking and ideas about what is truth.”

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“Why’s that?” I smiled.

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“Because your truth, naturally, has been pieced together with a unique combination of your education and experiences.”

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I glanced in the rear-view mirror, I thought the car behind me was following a little too close. I said to Ernie, “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” I tapped my brake-lights and kept my eye on the car on my rear-end.

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“Your education and experience has caused you to come to conclusions that you express as truth. Thus, you assume, if everyone was as enlightened as you are, everyone would share the same truth as you do.”

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“Um, wait a second …” The car behind me passed me on my right side. I stayed in the middle lane, keeping up with the flow in that center lane. Ernie pretended not to hear me.

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“But, as you know,” Ernie continued, “this isn’t the way the world works, because very few share your education or experience which adds up to your current truth wisdom. And, this is a reality that is absolutely undeniable.”

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“What is absolutely undeniable?” I thought, did I missed something? But Ernie ignored my question and kept lecturing.

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“So, of course, you might rightly wonder, ‘Who are they to say that my truth isn’t absolute truth?’”

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“Sure, I admit I would probably think that.” I said as I waited for another red light to turn green.

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Ernie forged ahead, “Actually, I’m not saying your truth isn’t truth, but I would suggest you have to be willing to test your truth before you can honestly, definitely say it is the truth.”

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“Hmm.”

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“Allow me an example …”

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“OK.” I eased forward as the light switched to green.

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“Let me suggest what a follower of Jesus would say when asked, Why are you a Christian? They could simply say, Because it’s true. To which you might say, Can you prove it? … give me some evidence.”

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“Seems right.”

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“To which a follower of Christ may respond, ‘Yes, I’m able to do that.’”

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Three more traffic lights before we’d arrive at the workplace parking lot. Ernie kept talking.

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“To which you would say, “OK, give me some proof.”

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“Yes I would ask that.”

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“To which a Jesus follower would respond, “I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead.”

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I sat at another red light waiting and of course, listening to Ernie.

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“To which you would think about what was being said. You may have researched it yourself and know there is no credible argument that the Jesus Christian’s follow wasn’t a real person in recorded history. It’s accepted that Jesus lived and Jesus died. The question though, is: did Jesus rise from the dead?”

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“Uh huh, I nodded in affirmation.”

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“Followers of Jesus would say on the question of resurrection, “Yes Jesus came back to life.”

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“Um …”

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“To which you may probably ask, ‘How can you be sure?’”

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“Yes, right.”

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“To which a follower of Jesus would say, ‘Eyewitnesses saw Jesus die on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem and what’s more, after three days these same eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive.’”

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Two more blocks and I’d turn right and then turn another right to park in an open space in the parking garage.

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“To which you might ask, ‘How do you know this isn’t a made up story?’”

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“Makes sense.”

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“To which a Jesus follower may say, ‘Jesus appeared to over five hundred people after his death and burial, have you ever known five hundred people to agree and say the same thing like that?’ The odds are you haven’t.”

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Ernie rolled on, “As for me, I trust the eyewitnesses are telling the truth. Jesus was and is alive. Plus, I’ve read Jesus predicted his death and resurrection. Do you know anyone else who was able to predict death and resurrection and pull it off?”

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“No one comes to mind,” I said. I backed into a parking spot and centered my car between the right and left lines thinking maybe the sides of my car may not get dinged or scratched.

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Ernie wrapped up his speech, “Obviously, what followers of Jesus declare as real truth may not line up with your assessment of truth. Even so, this is one area where you perhaps would have to examine what you believe as truth. It may be an area you would investigate on your journey from good to great.”

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We opened our car doors, slid out, closed the doors carefully, and started walking to our job’s backdoor entrance. I pressed the lock button on my key fob and said, “You have a point Ernie.”

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Books

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