Friday, January 29th,
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 8th 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.
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.
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
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