Go and tell...

'A little girl goes to the doctor to have a checkup. She is a very quiet and seems to be quite shy. As the doctor is checking different areas of her body, he asks just a few simple questions to hopefully get her talking or at least a little more relaxed about the visit. As the doctor is checking her ears, he asks, "Is Elmo in your ear?" She quietly replies, "No". He moves to her mouth to check her throat. "I think I may see a cat down there! Is there a cat in your throat?" "No sir", she replied. Then he pulls out the stethoscope to listen to her heart. In hopes to really get her excited, knowing that most little girls know about Dora, he listens to her heart. As he is listening, he asks her, "Is Dora in your heart?" She quickly exclaims, "No! Jesus is in my heart! But, Dora is on my underwear!"'

Oh, to have the boldness of this little girl. For most of those that know me, know that I am a very shy and reserved kinda girl. I do love my Lord and I love moments that I am able to praise and worship him. However, when it comes to sharing Him, or even meeting new people to present Him or our church, I clam up.

There have been 2 specific incidences recently where I have had the opportunity to just plainly introduce myself and my family at our church – both times involved younger couples that were visiting the church for the first time. Side note: we don't have a very small church but we don't have a "mega" church either. So, usually, when a new face or faces visit, the majority of our church body is able to recognize that we have guests.

The first couple visited our Sunday School class. I seemed to did find every excuse in the book to avoid them. After the fact, I was devastated. The Lord definitely convicted me of this. The two of them were new to the area and were looking for a church home. They were getting ready to get married and wanted to find a church where they could join and begin the next chapter of their lives in. We are trying to increase numbers in our Sunday School class, as our attendance has seemed to drop quite drastically over the past year, and I can’t even introduce myself to potential new members?!?! But, beside the numbers fact, I should have even been able to introduce myself and thank them for coming! Needless to say, they haven’t been back. However, I often think of what kind of image I, or even our church left for the two of them. I know that I do not need to dwell on matters such as these but I am definitely burdened by the fact that I avoided them. Would things be different if I, and/or another member of our class (other than the teacher) had spoken to them? Would they have, at least, come back for another Sunday?

The second incident involved a young husband and wife and a little boy that looked to be about 1 or 2. They came into our morning worship service just before it was to begin. It just so happened that I was to play my flute for the worship songs that morning, so I had to be in place about 3 minutes before the service started. I saw them come in and sit down in the pew in front of us, at the other end. A voice told me to go and introduce myself and let them know that we did have a nursery if they were interested. Especially knowing how I felt about the first time I encountered a new couple. BUT, I told myself that I had to get to the platform to prepare to play. In my mind, there just wasn’t enough time – but there really was. So, I had a plan to speak to them right after the service and to let them know about some of our young adult things going on. However, I missed my golden opportunity. Turns out, the baby got fussy and the husband took him out. During the sermon, the wife seemed to get a little frustrated that the husband hadn’t come back so she left as well, for them both not to return for the service at all.

Our spring revival is now taking place and our Associate Pastor has partly made it a Regional Evangelism conference -- which is great! We will be having several diffent evangelists come and speak over the next few days. However, today we had Marty Dupree (Evangelization Team Leader of the Baptist State Convention of NC) come and speak 4 different sessions on Lifestyle Evangelism. I have definitely been convicted on sharing the gospel today. However, I know that I am going to have to have daily, earnest prayer about becoming more bold. I will need to make myself understand that everyone in my neighborhood, city, county, state, etc... are just plain people. They put their pants on just like I do, day in and day out. Some may just put their left foot in before their right foot! There are just so many of them that are lost and going to die without Christ. I wish that things like this were easier for me, like for the little girl in the story that I mentioned earlier in my posting. However, I know that it won't get easier until I just start doing it, after lots and lots of prayer of course!

Lord,
It is my prayer that you will help me to become more bold for you. To find it just a little easier to speak to someone on the street, at work, and even at church about You. You have done so much for me that I don't deserve and this is the least I could do to give back to you, as you have commanded. In your name I pray, Amen.