Last Night
Don't you hate it when a significant moment passes you by where you could have, but you didn't. I had one of those last night. I seem to be better on the afterthought, rather than on the spot.
I was visiting my former pastor last night and attended one of his bible studies. It was a great message on being a witness and at the end he opened it up to questions. The questions evolved around how to approach people and such. One of the "set-up" questions was how do you witness to someone of a different race. I happened to be the only one of different race in the building so he brought the microphone to me to answer. My answer was simply something to the tune of there's no difference, people are just people. You witness to them the same. True enough, but there definitely was no depth behind my answer. Looking back, I should have given this answer, my testimony if you will.
When I was 18 years old, lost in Jackson trying to find a Carmen concert, I ran across a tent revival. The beat of the music had me and before I knew it I was standing at the back of the tent. Everyone was getting happy enjoying God, shouting and dancing all over the place. After a few seconds, a lady (I can't even remember who) walked up to me and said, "You need to go the alter." She could have told me anything. She could have stated the obvious, this chick is lost and pointed me on down the road. But she didn't. She looked past my white skin, saw my need, and led me to the alter.
You can find a million and one reasons why not to be a witness that stretch from the color of skin to financial standing, to whatever. It's all about getting out of your comfort zone, that's hard for anyone. Thank God, that nothing stopped that lady from witnessing to me.
I was visiting my former pastor last night and attended one of his bible studies. It was a great message on being a witness and at the end he opened it up to questions. The questions evolved around how to approach people and such. One of the "set-up" questions was how do you witness to someone of a different race. I happened to be the only one of different race in the building so he brought the microphone to me to answer. My answer was simply something to the tune of there's no difference, people are just people. You witness to them the same. True enough, but there definitely was no depth behind my answer. Looking back, I should have given this answer, my testimony if you will.
When I was 18 years old, lost in Jackson trying to find a Carmen concert, I ran across a tent revival. The beat of the music had me and before I knew it I was standing at the back of the tent. Everyone was getting happy enjoying God, shouting and dancing all over the place. After a few seconds, a lady (I can't even remember who) walked up to me and said, "You need to go the alter." She could have told me anything. She could have stated the obvious, this chick is lost and pointed me on down the road. But she didn't. She looked past my white skin, saw my need, and led me to the alter.
You can find a million and one reasons why not to be a witness that stretch from the color of skin to financial standing, to whatever. It's all about getting out of your comfort zone, that's hard for anyone. Thank God, that nothing stopped that lady from witnessing to me.
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