Many people choose to spend years of their lives studying deep-thinking theologians and philosophers to gain greater understanding of the meaning of life.

I listen to country music.

I’m serious. Country music is more than just singing about dogs, divorce, drinking and dying (or trucks, trains, tractors and trysts). Country music is about life, often putting life in its simplest form.

Simple works well for me.

One of my favorite country songs is “The Gospel According to Luke,” written by Skip Ewing. The song tells the story about a homeless man, named Luke, who spends his days collecting coins off the street and sharing the word of God to the people he meets. At night, he shares the money he collects with others down on their luck.

This line from the song sums up his beliefs -“Give to your brother if he is in need. Offer up thanks for the gifts you receive. There’s treasure in heaven for the generous few. That was the gospel according to Luke.”

As someone who likes to share his beliefs on what gives meaning to life, I often wonder if someone were to ask me the question, “what is the gospel according to you,” if that person would see my actions, like Luke’s, reflecting my words. As the saying, “Preach the Gospel – use words sparingly,” profoundly suggests, our actions should state the case for our beliefs much more than our words.

Several years back, what I call “The Gospel According to You” became very real to me. One spring Saturday, my parents had a fire at their house in my hometown of Staples. When I got to Staples the next day, my parents were living in a hotel room with nothing but the clothes on their backs (literally). A few days later they were able to find an apartment to move into, but they had nothing to move into it. I made a few calls to some townspeople I knew, asking if they could help out. The people I spoke with said not to worry – they would take care of things. Three days later, when my parents moved into their apartment, they moved into an apartment fully furnished by the people of Staples and a handful of other people my siblings and I knew.

No words needed to be spoken that day to preach the gospel according to those people. Their actions shouted their beliefs loud and clear.

With that in mind, I am going to do my best these next few months to look for more opportunities to preach the gospel according to me, through my actions and not just my words.

I’ll let you know how it goes.