Is giving your coat away an act of true discipleship?
The poet in me always seems to need to fill the white space with words. Just as the raconteur needs to fill the silence with stories. Years ago as a student in Salisbury walking home from my girlfriend's house to the college in the Cathedral Close I was stopped by two young men who demanded money from me with menaces. I had no money so I explained that I was simply not in a position to assist them. They became more threatening and suddenly the taller of the two demanded that I gave them my coat. This was a more challenging demand after all I suddenly thought, what did John say: If you have two coats give one away! But this was my favourite coat. It was a special coat. it was a coat that I needed to stay warm in the winter so I refused to part with my coat. I chose to keep it. A risky decision given that I was outnumbered two to one. But risky also because I was a student claiming to live a christian life and in time to become both a leader and a servant in ...