When my grandmother heard the news that my cousin had fallen from a second-story window, she immediately went and washed her hair. 

Grandma had been sitting alone in her house, listening to the morning radio when the announcer shared a news bulletin stating that the previous night, a little boy with the same name as her grandson, living in the same community and of the same age, had fallen onto the pavement from a window on the second floor of his house. He had been rushed to the hospital but miraculously survived his injuries.

She thought she was hallucinating and wanted to look pretty when the “men in white coats” came to take her away. Thus, the hair-washing. 

As it happens, the whole story was true — it was her grandson, but this was before the age of mobile phones and had happened so late at night that his parents had been unable to notify any family members before the whole thing showed up on the news. 

It wasn’t until my grandmother received a phone call from another relative corroborating the story that she realized it hadn’t been a figment of her imagination. What a waste of styled hair, no hospital committal for her that day.

There are certain truths that we cannot accept unless they are supported by the testimony of others. We find them to be unbelievable without the reassurance of another person whispering, “It’s okay. I see it, too.”

This is the value of testimony, and the purpose of John the Baptist and every saint who ever died with the name of Jesus Christ on their lips. And this is the sacred duty of all the baptized, to give testimony with our words and our actions.

How will you testify today?

“He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.” — John 1:8