Anytime, Anywhere

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.-- Romans 14:1-2 NIV

Something I've sort of always struggled with is knowing the right time and, more importantly, the right manner in which to share my love of Jesus with others. I'm pretty good at actions; doing things to help others to show them Christ's love and kindness. I'm not always so good at verbalizing it, and I feel awkward at times when I try to actively seek a way to bring it up. I know that I've seen what happens when people come on too strong. You can almost see a person switch off when a "crazy Christian" approaches with the hard sell. Maybe that's why I am reluctant to bring it up in conversation?

Over the last few months what I've found to be true is that, as I get more and more in touch with God in my personal life, the opportunities seem to come both more frequently and easily. I'll be talking with someone and it will just surface, making it so much easier for me to share what I know without knocking the other person over with it. It doesn't really matter how differently we look or feel or believe, either. Our job is to speak the truth about Jesus and to pray for those we've talked to about Him. Let the petty stuff go by the wayside and concentrate on what matters.

For example, last night I headed up to GameStop to pick up our copies of the new Halo game. It's become a tradition that I take a couple of days off work and go pick our copies up right at Midnight when they get released. I walk up to the back of the line while I'm talking to a friend in North Carolina who is doing the same thing. But after I get off the phone me and the guy in front of me start up this conversation and we end up talking for a couple of hours while we wait for Midnight to strike. I learned about him, his job, his family, and his faith. I learned that he lives in Bethany and is looking for a good church to call home. I got to tell him about my faith, my family, and my church. We talked about the importance of reading scripture. I even got to meet (formally) the guy we ended up taking our cat Shades from at the grocery store a couple of months back. Believe it or not, grocery store guy and this guy I had been talking to for 2 hours are great friends! I don't know for sure if these guys believe in Jesus or if they say they do and don't live like it...or if they are model Christ followers. But they know what I believe and why.

The point is that you never know when God has another opportunity cocked and loaded for you. What you can do is be open to the possibility and ready to hop in and share when it happens. You'll find that taking it easy and just being honest goes a long way, and you'll also find that it gets easier and easier the more you do it. God has big plans for you. If he didn't you'd be nothing but a greasy spot! God put me and this guy together tonight. I have no idea what, if anything, is to come of it. What I do know is that I walked away from that store tonight shaking his hand, knowing I had done what I was there to do...and it wasn't just picking up a video game.