March 25, 2005

• an adventure i chose.

  
  

  “i don’t have the gift of evangelism, so that’s why i don’t do it” is the LAMEST excuse i’ve ever heard for being disobedient to Christ.  if you don’t love the lost, then you should ask yourself whether you really know God.  if you don’t want to share the gospel with your friends, then there’s something wrong with you.  i am absolutely serious.

  
  

  i do not have the gift of evangelism.  but i love the lost.  because i know God.  and God loves the lost. 

  
  

  in college, i was involved with the Navigators.  it is Nav culture to share God’s love to people.  there’s no other option.  believe me, i tried.

  
  

  one day i was sitting at the top of the geisel library, eating my lunch.  i was sitting on this stone bench enjoying my meal… and then this lady decides to sit down on the bench adjacent to mine.  dang, it was like she was invading my personal space on purpose!  i felt God’s prompting, talk to the lady.  talk to the lady??  i retorted.  haha. you can’t be serious, God.  look, she’s eating her lunch.  i shouldn’t bother her.  besides what would i say?  this is not a good time.  she’s probably in a rush.  i have no idea what to say to her…  oh!  it’s class time. 

  
  

  so i scurried away quickly.  if you love God and know God, you know how it feels to disappoint God.  it’s absolutely dreadful.  i couldn’t believe that i disobeyed him.  oh man.  it was the worse, stinging, awful, anchor-weighing-down-your-insides feeling!  it was so bad, i promised God that next time, i would obey Him – even if i was terrified.

  
  

  “next time” didn’t take long in coming.  another day, i was sitting at a picnic table, waiting for a friend to come out of class.  while waiting, a student randomly decided to sit at my table.  let me explain something real quick:  there were 3 other picnic tables around.  she could’ve sat on any one of those.  but no, she sat on mine.  why?  oh goodness.  only God!!  talk to her, He said.  ugh.  (can we talk about feeling terrified?)  talk to her, talk to her, talk to her, He prodded over and over.  finally, i said, okokok… funny how steady promptings lead to funny outbursts…

  
  

  “so it’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”  (of all the first lines!  i had to pick that one??!!) 

  
  

  the girl responded politely.  second question, “um… are you waiting for your next class?”  answer, “yep.”  next question, “what class is it?”  answer, “….(something i don’t remember)…  it was a bit of a dull beginning…

  
  

  but then, like magic, the conversation picked up.  we started talking about our families, what we do on the weekends… and suddenly we were talking about church, christianity… and the gospel!  no joke.  and she wanted to know more.  so i told her.  but she wanted to know more.  so i told her more and more and more.  i asked her if she wanted a bible, and she said yes!  (i gave it to her later)… it was an absolutely surreal, amazing experience!  words can’t describe how thrilling and fun and satisfying it was!  what i gained (and SHE gained) that day was so worth the “risk” i took to break the silence and say one sentence in obedience to Christ. 

  
  

  the cost of discipleship is having to jump out of our comfort zones. it means throwing caution in the wind. it means throwing our pride out the window and just obeying God.  cuz when we do, oh man, the adventures start to unravel.  because i didn’t obey God with the first lady, i had no adventure.  i just had a regular, hum-drum day.  but because i obeyed God with the student, i had an amazing adventure. 

  
  

  everyday is a “choose your own adventure” story.  will you choose an adventure today?

  • 6:40 am
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