Most people believe falsely that once they become a child of God, their problems will be over, because God, their Supreme Santa Claus, will take away all problems, strife, and misery from their lives. People sometimes forget that the Lord is here to instill character in us. To break us and mold us and reshape us into the beings He desires us to be. Those who wish a Santa in their lives need to do a bit of alphabet juggling and follow Satan, because he will take away all the problems you’ll face in this world during your lifetime in exchange for a small, insignificant token of a soul.

For some, the cost of being a Christian is just too high a price; too much to handle, and thus they return to their former ways; lying to themselves that, "I can do anything I want (this means backsliding) because I’m not under the Law (of God), but rather under the Grace (of our Lord, Jesus Christ)."

It’s interesting to note that in the Books of Matthew and Mark, the authors state that Jesus says to those who would follow Him that they need to carry their cross. In the Book of Luke, however, the author adds one little important word...daily. We are reminded that we need to daily carry our cross in order to follow and be worthy of the One who shed His blood and died for us.

That’s a tough pill to swallow. I know at times, I can’t handle the daily carrying of my own individual cross for Christ. But by Him and through Him all things are made possible, including the hardship of being a Christian.

The cost of being a Christian takes on many forms. Slander is one. The world is insane nowadays. You can spend a lifetime building up a good solid reputation within your community and the world, and see it ruined in a moment by some false accuser with a jealous hatred for what you stand for, as they themselves live in a gutter.

I hate injustice of any kind, as most people say they do. However, in today’s society, it seems to be okay to bash Christians. To do so to any other religion or society is an act punishable under the Hate Crimes Law. Being tolerant means being intolerant to Christians, because fundamentally, Christians are not tolerant of other religions and different ways of life.

One day a friend, who would be considered a new Christian, called me to express her animosity toward her ex-husband, who was spreading rumors in our small town that his former wife divorced him because she preferred bedding other woman. Of course, no where does this man confess to anyone that the real reason why his wife divorced him was because he was spending too much time sleeping with other woman instead of fulfilling his duties as a husband and a father.

It was natural for my friend to be angry over this injustice. She knew she wasn’t a lesbian, but that didn’t stop many of the small minded townspeople from enjoying the gossip. Then I asked her if she thought I was a homosexual. She was shocked to hear such a statement from me, but confessed that no, she didn’t believe for a moment that I could be.

"How about a child molester? Or someone who delves into internet pornography and rents porno films at the local video store?" She answered an absolute, unshakeable no to these charges.

Then I stunned her by saying that all these lies about me came not from the unbeliever, but rather from those who profess to be lovers of Christ. And in my own church, no less!

This is the cost of being a Christian. And the cost will hit in financial ways as well.

For years, Hollywood has been wanting to turn my life story into a feature film (with Tom Cruise to play me), and at one point offered me $2 million for the rights. This means that I sign my life away and they (the studio) can portray my life as they see fit. Well, I have built a lifetime on my reputation with the children (and the parents) around the world, and therefore I couldn’t possibly accept any amount of money that meant a radical change of how my life should be portrayed, because no matter how you look at it, 30 pieces of silver is still 30 pieces of silver.

Next month is the 10^th anniversary of the American Summits tour. When the two year tour was over, I sat down with a graphic designer for 12 hours a day for a week working on the poster. Most of my annual million dollar-plus professional cycling friends have posters done of them from some race that they use to autograph at the bike shows. I wanted to be different. I wanted a poster that would be considered a work of art, informative, and a collectors item suitable for framing.

All the goals were met, but then I made a fatal flaw...

As most of you who read my articles and stories, you know that I love quotes. The source doesn’t matter, so long as the quote fits. Each of my bike tours could be defined in a quote (which you can read by going through each adventure on my site). With the American Summits poster, I had the perfect quote that summed up what the entire tour was all about. It was taken from the Book of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 20, which states, "And Jesus said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain move, and it shall move, and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

100 copies of the poster were sent out to all my sponsors and various corporations I had dealt with on other projects, and not one would contribute any funds to have the poster made. The deal was, help fund the project and have your logo inserted on the finished product. I mean, most people, and especially corporations, want to be associated with a winner, right?

Well, in time, I heard from some of my sponsors about the poster when we were getting ready for the Tour de Cuba. They asked, out of curiosity, if I had raised any funds from the other sponsors or individual corporations. When I answered no, they informed me that they thought the poster was brilliant. Such a work of art that they would have loved to have had their logo on it. So what was the problem? The quote and the Source.

"And actually, Kev, it wasn’t so much the quote itself, but the fact that you used the name Jesus within the quote. You have to understand that the name of Jesus is the most hated name in the corporate world."

"So," I answered, "If I used the quote, but it came from Buddha or Stalin or Hitler, that would have been okay?"

"Yeah," laughed my corporate friend. "It would have. Anyone but Jesus, and really any other quote than something from the Bible. It’s just a hard lesson to learn."

And the sad part was, such an opportunity was lost. The public wouldn’t have minded the quote at all, and perhaps they would even think differently upon those corporations that were brave enough to be associated with an unwavering Christian by allowing their logos to be placed on a work of art.

This is the cost of being a Christian...your reputation will be marred. You will lose financially. Family and friends will desert you. Spouses and children will despise you. And for what?...

All for an eternal crown of glory in the next life once you finish the race in this one!