Day 13: Knock! Knock!

Friday, January 29^th, 2016

Revive FLORIDA

I can’t have you thinking that every time you knock on the door with the Gospel, someone answers affirmatively.  That’s just not realistic.  As surprised as I am at the number who have responded to us with open arms, there have certainly been times in which people have shown their lack of interest.  One time I asked a fellow, as he was going into a store, if he’d like prayer and he just turned his eyes in another direction and pretended he didn’t see or hear me.  Hey!  What are you going to do?  It happens.

You can’t take those things personally!

You have to shake it off and approach the next

person fresh, pure-heartedly and without disdain.

We’re not any different from the Apostles of the early church whose message did not always fall on welcoming ears.   I like to think of it this way:  They’re just not ready.  When they don’t respond, it’s a sign to move on to the next one who may be ready to make the greatest decision of his/her life!

I always remind myself that as much

  as I want to see people connect with God,

my priority is to love people where they’re at.

Jesus, Himself, said,  (I’m paraphrasing Matthew 22:36-40)  “If you’re going to do only 2 things right in this world, it should be these:  

(1) Love God and  

(2) Love the People God puts in your life!”

Love starts with conversation.  You can’t love someone without listening to them and getting to know who they are.  What’s their story?  You can’t have an agenda hanging over that relationship.  That’s not love!  That’s … “I’ll love you IF you’ll come to Jesus!”  and not an accurate depiction of God’s love.

God loves people no matter what 

and hopes that they’ll connect 

with Him – if not today, some day.

Do you realize that just acknowledging a person, taking the time to hear their story,  being nice, offering a smile and a listening ear are all ways of showing God’s love?  One time my team spent the whole morning session in a coffee shop shooting the breeze with a young traveler. 

We could have just moved on,

but the Holy Spirit said, “Stay!”

The young man said he was a Christian and He certainly talked the talk.  We just listened.  We HEARD him.  We kept company with him while he ate his lunch.

I asked my friend, Ashleigh, afterwards what she thought about our encounter.  She responded that she believed God was pleased that we took the time to listen to the man.  I was immediately reminded of the parable in Scripture where it says… 

“Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?”  (Matthew 25:37-38)

I couldn’t argue with that! God always has a way of connecting with people – of finding the one who’s forgotten, to remind them He sees them!  He leaves the 99 and finds the 1 who’s wandered into the thicket.

God makes sure people know that THEY are worthy --

Worthy of His TIME and His LOVE.

After hearing someone’s story, I always hope for a chance to pray with people about what’s concerning to them.  I love when we get to hold hands and remind people that God is listening.  He’s only a prayer away.  If that’s the end of the encounter, it’s still a wonderful thing! Maybe we get to the Bible, and maybe we don’t.  It’s okay! 

And of course there’s always SEED PLANTING.  The other day, my friend Rhonda and I decided to drop in at Starbucks for a quick cup of caffeine.  While we sat at the community table, we engaged in conversation with a delightful couple whom I like to refer to as Harry and Sally. 

Do you remember the movie When Harry Met Sally?  Throughout the picture, there are  little vignette’s of couples sitting on a couch telling their stories of how they met.  Our Harry and Sally were in their 70s.  She was a chemical analyst.  He was retired air force and audiologist.  Both had their PHDs.  Very interesting people, to say the least.

We listened to their stories, taking in all the unique details.  I asked a few questions here and there to determine if they were Christians and it seemed apparent that they were not – they were scientists.  I mentioned to Harry that Audiology (the science of hearing) reminded me of when I was in the 8^th grade, studying the various systems of the human body.  I found them so amazing!  The human ear was the prototype for the telephone.  The eye, the prototype for the camera.  How awesome is the circulatory system?  Not to mention how our skin provides air conditioning for our body so that we don’t overheat.  Most miraculous of all has to be the reproductive system.  The wonder of childbirth!  Surely it all points to a Divine Creator!

You might find me overly bold in my conversation, but it was all true!  I really was taken back by the wonder of it all as a child – still am – and I can honestly say this conversation was from a pure heart and not contrived in any way. 

Okay,  with that I knocked, but no one answered.

They didn’t respond one way or the other. 

No comment whatsoever.  Really?

Then Sally said she wanted to know about me.  What did I do?  I responded that I was a writer.  She wanted to know what kind of writing I did.  With that I told them  how I spent 536 days in RED shoes writing a blog called The Red Shoe Project in which the RED shoes reminded me to look and listen for God in my everyday life and I blogged  about my discoveries every night before going to sleep. 

“It’s amazing!” I said,  "God is everywhere when you’re actively looking for Him!”

Knock! Knock!

No answer.

Once again, they didn’t respond. 

Nothing!  
They wouldn’t open the door.

I couldn’t believe it!

Before going, Rhonda and I knocked one more time.  We mentioned that we were with Revive FLORIDA and out praying for people.  How could we pray for them?

Knock! Knock!

Still no answer.

They were good!  
They felt very fortunate
with life and were not in need of prayer.

Well – we had met some very nice people and had some delightful conversation.  We smiled.  They smiled.  All was good.  We all discarded our empty coffee cups and went our separate ways thinking, “Maybe we’ll meet again some day.”

Let me say this:  Harry and Sally were really quite extraordinary people.  They were interesting, they enjoyed life and they loved each other!  Even though they never opened the door to talk about God, I realized later that Rhonda and I got to plant some good seed. 

You never know.  Perhaps it will take root

and someday offer a harvest.

“God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.”

- Gail

Day 12: Gloriously Changed!

Thursday, January 28^th, 2016

Revive FLORIDA

Upon arrival at Revive this morning, I was met by a disappointed friend whose first time out evangelizing was not quite what she expected!

“Shake it off, sister!”  I exhorted.  “Every encounter is different and every team leader has a little bit different way of going about things.  Jump on my  team!  We’ll experience this together!”

She smiled and agreed to give it another go.  Mustering up her faith, she had a little talk with Jesus and decided to see what team He selected for her for round 2.  

She started out with another group, but lo and behold, she ended up with me.  Her original team didn’t quite have enough members, so it was split up and she was directed to join us:  Rhonda, Jeremy, Laura and Me!

It was a morning outreach, so our task was to visit a church and pray with the leadership there.  Upon arrival, however, we found ourselves in what appeared to be an abandoned church parking lot.  It was obvious that no one was home – except for this one man, sitting on a wrought iron bench just to the side of the church building.

We wondered, “ Was he the pastor of this church having a time of meditation?

As we got out of the car, the man immediately rose from his place of solitude and began to apologize for sitting on the bench.  How funny!  He thought we were part of the church staff and we thought he was the pastor.  His name was Craig and he explained to us that he was on a walk to the local corner store and just stopped half way to take a rest. 

Craig was not having a good morning, to say the least.  As we shot the breeze with him, we discovered that someone – a friend that he owed some money to – swiped his car this morning and the story just went downhill from there.  Craig’s feet were very swollen and afflicted – that’s why he was sitting down resting.  We explained to Craig who we were and asked if we could pray with him. 

He welcomed a talk with God!

After praying we gave Craig the bracelet to commemorate our time together and asked if he had time for us to explain the colors and what they meant.  He did!

Step by step, we took him through the gospel message.  At the end we inquired,

“Craig,  Is there anything preventing you from

 declaring Jesus Christ as Lord, right now?”

“No, not at all.” He responded.

The next thing I knew, we were huddling together praying in that parking lot.  At first, I laid my hand on Craig’s shoulder, but I saw that Rhonda had plain out grabbed Craig’s other hand, so I grabbed for Craig’s hand as well.  There we were joined together in a complete circle, our eyes closed, coming before God with a very special request.

Craig asked Christ to come into his heart

and life right there!

We chatted a while longer, celebrating with our new friend and brother-in-Christ, and took a selfie to remember the moment.  Craig had to get going, so we waved to him as he left the parking lot. 

Our team grouped together for a quick debrief – really, we were just so excited about Craig’s conversion that we couldn’t stop chattering amongst ourselves!  We took one final look at Craig as he headed down the road.  He was not the same man we met an hour earlier.  His whole demeanor was different.  His face glowed – it was lit up with wonder and joy! He even had a spring in his step. We hadn’t even realized til then that God had healed his feet.  

How awesome is that?

I texted Craig later in the day and here’s what he said,

“Thank you so much!  When we were all holding hands,

I felt something powerful.  I know God is with me now. 

Thanks for everything!  God bless you!”

Wow!  Now that’s what Revive FLORIDA is all about –

Connecting people with Christ!

My friend Rhonda wasn’t discouraged anymore!  Within days, she, herself, became a team captain for Revive.  Infact, all the team members did! 

That moment in the parking lot changed us all.

There’s a new name written down in glory!

Gail