“We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18 NIV)

The day we arrived on Prince Edward Island, my youngest son fell in love with a unique t-shirt.

After crossing the Confederation Bridge, we stopped briefly to stretch our legs at the Gateway Village, the commercial outlet at the foot of the bridge. I was looking at a display of $5.00 t-shirts when he came running to me, holding up a rather plain-looking shirt. “Papa!” he said eagerly. “THIS is the shirt I want!”

The shirt carried the hefty price tag of $25.00-quite a bit to pay for a child’s shirt that would be outgrown by next year! Besides, we had only paid $4.00 for the shirt we had bought for him in New Brunswick. “What about these?” I asked, hopefully holding up a sample from the rack I had been looking at.

“But papa, THIS is the shirt I want from PEI!”

Anyone who knows my son well knows that he isn’t easily deterred. I had no other choice but to don my fatherly tone and use the pat answer that I reserved for such occasions: “We’ll see!”

“But this is the nicest shirt there is!” he stubbornly insisted.

My son knows me well. He’s learned that “we’ll see” really means “no”. I would be forced to resort to the next typical response on my list: “You haven’t seen all the other t-shirts on PEI yet. Maybe you’ll find one you like just as well for less money!”

This less-than-a-no response seemed to satisfy him temporarily. Until my wife and I began looking at sweatshirts that were on sale for $25.00 that is! I had just pulled on a Nantucket Fleece sporting an emblem of PEI when I heard a voice at my side: “You pay $25.00 for a shirt for you, but you won’t do it for me!”

I sighed. “Your mom and I won’t outgrow our shirts by next year!” I said, purposefully only hiding about half of my impatience.

It didn’t stop him, however: “What if I buy one that’s big enough to last me forever?”

“Look,” I said, no longer trying to hide any of my aggravation. “We’re here for eight days, and we will be traveling through the entire island. Let’s see if there isn’t another, less expensive shirt that you like just as well somewhere else!”

He went away still convinced that it wasn’t fair for me to buy a shirt that cost $25.00 when he couldn’t, but he let it drop. For the moment anyway.

Throughout the next eight days, I showed my son many beautiful, inexpensive t-shirts, but none of them would do. After barely even glancing my direction, he would say: “They aren’t as nice as the one at the Gateway Village!”

I had to admit that he was right. Besides, it DID kind of bother me that I would pay $25.00 for a shirt for myself, yet not for him. Finally we compromised. I told him that if he would take an adult size, I would buy him the shirt. And just as we were leaving the island, we again stopped at the Gateway Village. He was beaming when we got back into the van.

Just what was so special about that shirt? It sported a picture of the Confederation Bridge, for one thing. But since this is the only bridge connecting PEI to mainland Canada, we had seen many t-shirts with this emblem. No, there was something even more unique about this particular t-shirt. Inside, under artificial light, it is a black-line drawing on a white shirt. Nothing special at all. But once outside in the sunshine, it changes into a magnificent array of beautiful colors. The transformation is radical, from line drawing to a perfect painting.

But the change isn’t permanent. Once back inside, the shirt again becomes an ordinary line-drawing. As I stared at it, amazed at how colorful it had been just moments earlier, it occurred to me that I used to be just like the black and white version of the shirt. My life was a dull line drawing, filled with sinful shades of gray. I had tried numerous times to add color to my own life; but these faded even before I had painted them in. And it seemed that the more I tried, the more colorless my life became. I was suffocating with no help in sight.

Then I met Someone who took the time to help me out of my desperate situation. He reached out from on high and pulled me out of my sin-filled existence, and the shirt of my life changed from a dull black and white into a brilliant, colorful display of His love through me.

People began to notice me. But not really me. What they noticed was the colorful One who lived inside of me, the One who shone THROUGH me! And now, as time has gone by, I have come to know that as long as I remain “in the Son”, my life continues to be magnificently colorful. As soon as I return to being full of me, however, it returns to being nothing but a black-line drawing.

Why this radical change? It has to do with the hefty price that He paid to make me colorful! He died 2000 years ago so that I could be redeemed from my sin. He then rose up 3 days later, promising the same resurrection life for me, as long as I remain His friend. And as long as I remain In Him, I am a colorful display of what He has done for me.

The same can be true with your life, my friend. If you are feeling the colorlessness of your hectic, empty life, if you are tired of trying to fill it with a multitude of promising fillers, only to find out that none of these add real color, then try Jesus. He’s the only One who can bring color to your existence. He is trying to reach out to you right now. Will you let Him rescue you? If you do, you will start to experience real life, a life beyond anyone’s imagination. You will have a Friend that will always be there for you, One you will hunger to know more intimately; for He is the only One who will bring the true “you” into its colorful existence. The choice is yours.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)

A simple t-shirt revealed to me the color that Jesus has added into my life. In that, it was worth the $25.00 that I paid. Thank you Jesus, for being my friend!

Rob Chaffart