“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” John 12:26

It started out as a joke. One Sunday morning after church, while speaking to a few of the young people, Nana said to one of them, “Why don’t you colour your hair green?” What possessed Nana to ask such a question is beyond me. One thing led to another and before long the tables had been turned and Nana had been counter challenged to colour her hair green. To which she said, “Okay. You’re on.”

We all wondered if she’d go through with it, for it’s not an everyday occurrence for a grandmother in her seventies to agree to colour her hair green. She later said, “I cannot believe I would be such an idiot! To do what I did was completely out of character for me. My pride and dignity were knocked right out from under me.”

However, Nana had given her word and wasn’t about to back down from the challenge. The following Sunday evening she arrived at church with bright green highlights. As you can imagine, it caused quite a stir. For it was the first, and hopefully the only time my mother-in-law has had a rush of colour to the head!

But there was method in Nana’s “madness.” It was payback time! Having taken on the challenge to dye her hair, she then counter challenged the young people of the church saying, “Can you take a challenge? … The Christian life is not for the wishy-washy wimp who stands for nothing and falls for anything. The Christian life is for those with guts. It’s for those with strength of character, discipline in their Christian walk, courage to stand for what is right, and determination to carry on even when peers smirk and scoff. Remember they are the wimps, not you. If I make a mess of my hair, I can wash it out and no real damage is done. If you or I make a mess of our lives, it might not ‘wash out’ so easily …”