They’re all around us… They are with us when we wake up… when we are at work or school. They are there when we are bowling on Friday nights and when we are eating out at our favorite restaurant (Joe’s Crab Shack… for those of you at home keeping score)…
What am I referring to? Opportunities. Opportunities to share Christ. God puts them there… they are unmistakable when we are looking for them. They jump out and smack us right in the face…when we’re looking… If we aren’t “looking”… they will pass us by unnoticed…
Let’s back up a little… Those of us who are Christians. When we give our lives to Christ, he changes us. He installs a new set of wiring for our minds and hearts. We are now hard-wired to love others. That’s not to say we don’t “short-out” every once in a while… (Guilty…sorry drive-thru lady) but in general, we have a love for the people around us.
Question: Why do we love others now that we are Christians? Why? Because Christ loved us… He loved us so much that he died for us! Ok… now that we have established that, we can move on.
Several weeks ago I was downtown and I was working. I was setting up a booth in preparation for a convention that was going to take place. As I was setting up I had to enter and exit the convention center several times in order to bring in all the supplies that I needed for the booth. I was anxious to get everything completed so I could get home at a decent hour.
I walked out of the doors onto the street when a man approached me. He had “BAD DAY” written all over his face. He was sweating, and he looked exhausted. He said, “Sir, do you have $8 that I could have to buy some fix-a-flat, my family’s car has a flat tire about a mile away.” I had no reason not to believe him, although generally I am a skeptic about those types of things… However, you can look in a person’s eyes and see when someone is in need… The only problem was… I didn’t have any cash… So we spoke for a while, and even considered dropping him off at the auto-parts store. Then I had the idea to find an ATM and get the cash that way. That’s what I did. I went to the ATM and as I was typing in my numbers, I felt compassion for the man and withdrew $40. I folded the money up so he wouldn’t notice that I had given him more and handed him the money.
The man’s face lit up and he had a real expression of relief and thankfulness. He shook my hand and went off to the auto-parts store. I turned around feeling preeetttyy good about myself. I couldn’t get over how generous I was. I stepped back inside and began working on my booth and IT HIT ME… I HAD COMPLETELY FAILED!!! I had missed the opportunity to share Christ. I was so caught up in how generous I was being that I neglected to share with him, the only thing I possessed that was of real value.
I am immediately reminded of the Samaritan woman at the well in the book of John. The Samaritan woman showed up in Jesus’ life one day. I bet she looked exhausted, I bet she was sweating from the middle-eastern heat… because you see; she didn’t get her water in the morning like the other women. She was pulling her water in the middle of the day. Just like the man that entered my life several weeks back, this woman entered Jesus’ life thirsty and in need.
The man entered my life and he was thirsty…He was thirsty to get back on the road, and thirsty to escape his circumstances… thirsty to find relief in his life. There I was… I gave him water… I helped his circumstance… but the problem is… circumstances never go away… we can never escape them in this life… I didn’t do what Jesus would have done… I didn’t give the man what Jesus’ gave at the well… THIS MAN WAS THIRSTY… and there I was… with a jug full of LIVING WATER… and I kept it to myself… a missed opportunity…
“…I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35)
Opportunities surround us…
love you babe)…