Anytime you walk into a restaurant with five children in tow, there is a certain look that the host and wait staff give you. They try not to, of course, but if you are as attuned to the look as I am, then you can still detect it. The look says, “Oh, no – please, please, please don’t sit them in my area!”

Just last week, I took the boys out for an early dinner, and we were seated in the back of the restaurant at a large round table. I leaned in and asked the kids in a low voice, “Do you know why they put us at this table? Because they expect you to be loud and disturb the other guests, so let’s prove them wrong! Let’s show them that you are the best behaved kids they’ve ever had here.” As we were getting up to leave after the meal, a lady a couple of tables over stopped me and complimented the kids. Wow – one of the highest praises that parents can receive (in my humble opinion) is to being­ told by a stranger that their children have good manners. Are they always perfect? Of course not, but it’s sure good to hear when they do well.

What a great reminder that was for the kids that people are watching us. All. The. Time. They stereotype and expect the worst: kids = rowdy. It may be unfair, but we are not always innocent until proven guilty. For example, what about these stereotypes? Churchgoer = stuffy killjoy. Christian = hypocrite. Religious = weirdo.

Titus 2: 7-8 reminds us that our job as believers in Christ is for our lives to speak the Gospel more than our words do. Do our lives reinforce the negative stereotypes, or are we willing to be a little weird in the world’s eyes and go against the grain? Are we going to prove them wrong? They are watching. What is your life telling them?