“Boy, Are You Brave!” (Or, Don’t Thank God in Public)

Years ago I started my own business. It was the scariest thing I have ever done. Reinventing myself at the age of fifty, leaving a secure and lucrative position to start my own firm was a challenge that I was not strong enough to tackle on my own. Of that I was certain.

So, I turned my professional and personal life over to God, went to church daily and prayed a lot. I asked Him for guidance and for strength. I did not ask for wealth or riches or to be the most successful guy in the world. I just asked for the strength to get me through and to guide me along the way. Since then, I can say without reservation that He has blessed me every day in every way and allowed me to succeed beyond my wildest expectations.

For what my small gesture was worth, I told Him that I would give Him the credit and the praise for blessing my venture, each and every day. He guided me every day, through troubling and challenging times, never failed me and reinforced my faith that “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.” So, when people would ask me how I did this, I simply tell them: “I say my prayers, because I am not strong enough to do this on my own.” 

The answer often surprises people, but it is the truth. I stand in awe of what He has done for me and how my blessings have multiplied. There are times when I am overcome with a sense of gratitude so overpowering that I feel the need to do something more, to give Him more thanks and praise. I wondered how I could better fulfill my promise to give Him credit every day, in every way.

It dawned on me that I send out scores of letters each day, to clients, friends, opponents, vendors and a host of others. As this opportunity was given to me in the first place, why not use it to minister in a very small way, by thanking Him in writing? So, I added to the firm letterhead a simple phrase that said it all: Deo Gratias. It was unobtrusive, and set out in small case, but you could not read the letter without reading the phrase. Latin for “Thanks be to God,” it was my small way of saying each day, every day, thanks. 

I do not want to be a pious person. It was not meant to be pious. It was meant simply to say, thanks, and to let people know that I am not ashamed to be weak or uncertain or to rely totally on my faith to get me through.

I did not know what, if anything, to expect from this gesture. Frankly I did not expect anything at all. However, the response from people to this insignificant gesture has been interesting. Once a close family member asked me if I should have my three Jesus paintings on the wall of my office. After all, she said, mine was a business office. Did this fit? Was it appropriate? Well, I liked the paintings. They inspire me. They are classics, and I like to look at them now and then. She asked me if they would offend clients. I did not think so; however, if anyone was offended by them, I probably did not want to work for them anyway. I felt the same way about the new letterhead. 

It was not an in-your-face gesture; it was not meant to offend anyone and it was not really an offensive thing. Most people would not even know what it meant. They just knew it was Latin and a lot of legal terms are derived from Latin, so most people would not pay much attention to it.

I have found that, indeed, most people don’t know what it means, don’t care, and don’t say anything about it. Some people call me or write me with the message: “Way to go!” or “Deo Gratias—yeah!” Some people actually think it is cool. Some people read it and ask my staff or me what it means. I view this as a small opportunity to tell them what it means and why I use it. It was simply a way of giving Him credit and reaffirming my faith. If anyone had been offended by it, I did not know. However, one call stood out from all the others, and remains etched in my memory.

Not long ago, I received a call from an attorney whom I barely knew. He was peripherally involved in a case with me. It was a strange call, which began with: “Boy are you brave!” This odd greeting caught me entirely off guard. What did he mean, I asked. The tone of the remark was cynical and derisive. “You know,” he said, “Deo Gratias.” He had apparently just received a letter from me. I replied forthrightly, “Thanks be to God; it means thanks be to God. I thank Him every day for what I have been given.” After an awkward pause, he replied, quietly, that he knew what it meant.

Basically, he said, no one does that. Apparently, I was not politically correct. Then, he said curtly, “Well, God has not been good to me.” I told him I was sorry he felt that way--just before he abruptly hung up the phone. I am not sure we even conducted any business. The whole bizarre conversation seemed to revolve around my letterhead. Something about this brief dialogue bothered me.

The conversation caused me to wonder, since when is it “brave” to simply say “Thank God” in public? “Brave” is such an inappropriate adjective to describe the simple act of thanking the Creator. This country was settled by people who came here to thank God without fear of persecution. It was given birth by men and women who risked everything to create a country in which each could thank God in his or her own way. It bothered me to think that anyone in this country would consider it “brave” to simply thank God in public. I shudder to think that this small gesture would be considered odd, unusual, inappropriate, or daring in any way. I would not like to live in a place where it is brave or risky or daring to thank God in public. I know of such places, and I do not want to live in them.

“Brave,” is allowing yourself to be tortured, humiliated before your family and friends, nailed to a tree, gasping for breath as you endure a hideous death. Brave is going out into the world like sheep to the slaughter, spreading the Gospel in hostile places, being tortured, hung upside down or eaten by wild beasts, for the sake of your faith. Brave is a missionary in a foreign land who is kidnapped and shot for his beliefs. Brave is being a Christian in Africa, and the Middle East, where you can be tortured and killed for simply being a Christian. Brave is being a Christian in China where you must hold church in secret, hide your faith and are arrested if the Government catches you thanking God or praising His son. To suggest that publishing a simple phrase on a piece of paper thanking God for what He has done for you is brave, is just wrong. And it is an insult to suggest this, in light of the true bravery exhibited by those people in the world who actually suffer for their faith every day--unlike us. If it has become politically incorrect for private persons to publicly thank God for His blessings, then I fear for us and what we have become.

America is the easiest place in the world to be a Christian, or anything else for that matter. It is the easiest place in the world to go to church, practice your faith, thank God, and live in the certainty that no one will harm you or think you odd if you do. It is the easiest place in the world to say Deo Gratias. And no people on earth have more reason to do so.