opportunity lost

A few weeks back, I wrote about a girl I'd met. Melissa is a military wife with a 6-year-old son. We visited each other and met at the pool a few times. I wouldn't call her a best friend, maybe an acquaintance. She was interested in friendship for the sake of someone to talk to and someone to buy her wickless candles. I was interested in friendship for the sake of someone to talk to and someone to share the Gospel with. Melissa is one of the friendliest girls I've met, but she is not a believer in Jesus. In fact, she is more of an astrological girl.

I've prayed for opportunities to share the Truth with her, but subtle opportunities have come and gone because my eyes haven't been open to recognize them. And even if the opportunities were right in front of me, I'm afraid that my fears and timidity would've let them slip away. One thing Chan writes in Crazy Love describing one way lukewarm people can look is: "lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion." Now, I don't think religion is a private issue, nor am I terribly afraid of rejection, but I am guilty of the fear of making others uncomfortable. The truth is, if people are living in sin, they should feel uncomfortable about that sin.

Feeling guilty about knowing this girl for two months and never sharing the Gospel with her, I came back to San Angelo on Monday with a renewed motivation. While driving, I made a plan; a plan is something I should've made long ago. I was going to invite Melissa and her son over to play. Undoubtedly, she'd ask how our trip back to Kansas went. And then I'd tell her about our baptism, which would surely lead into a discussion about Jesus.

We walked by Melissa's apartment this morning. And she's gone. Her husband's class is finished, and they've moved to Louisiana. I guess I knew they'd be moving; active duty people do that often. But I figured I'd get at least one more opportunity to share with her. Opportunity lost. But God will work in so many other ways, I'm sure. Perhaps I'll post the story of my dear friend Shonda, and how God changed her life, despite me.

opportunity lost

Shonda was a teacher, like me. We taught together in Wichita and became dear friends. She was friendly, fun-loving, had it all together and was just a dear girl, except, she didn't know Jesus. At that time, we were desperate for keeping our sanity, as our job was quite challenging dealing with kids from one of the worst neighborhoods in Wichita. Pretty focused on myself wondering how I was going to make it through the days/weeks/years, I remember praying for Shonda, probably half-heartedly, that she would come to Christ.

Our final year at Jardine came and went. I never shared the Gospel with Shonda. And then Jared and I moved to Sabetha. I offered a feeble prayer that God would work in Shonda's heart, despite my failure to do my part in witnessing.

Do you know what God did? He answered that prayer. Shonda is now a faithful follower of Jesus. Her passion and fire for serving Him is simply amazing. God works, even when we're too stubborn to let Him use us.

we are

It was my last day of school at Jardine in Wichita. The kids knew every teacher was killing time until 3:10. I gave a quiz, but this one was supposed to be fun. A 20-question true/false quiz about the teacher - Ms. Hartter, given orally. "True or false...I grew up on a farm." "True or false...My mother was born in Germany." "True or false...My great-great-great grandma was the daughter of a Belgian prince." The last question on the test was, "True or false...I go to church." A snicker came from Taylor Murphy's side of the room. He looked at me, laughed, and said, "Yeah, right!" Now, Taylor Murphy was a big, squirrely eighth grader who often got in trouble, but he taught me an unforgettable lesson. Even after spending at least 30 minutes each day with him for 10 1/2 months, he would've never guessed that I was a church-going person.

Who are we? We call ourselves Christians, but do we act like it? Do we even talk like it? At Jardine, I had apparently done neither. Pray for us - that we would walk as faithful believers. Pray for boldness to seize every opportunity to spread the Word. "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" (2 Timothy 1:7).

finding a church

Six months ago, we started looking online for a San Angelo church. Pastor Casey suggested trying Mesquite Ridge Community Church. It is somewhat difficult to find a church online, but Casey indicated that he hadn't noticed any red flags based on Mesquite's website. We went there today. The church meets in a suite. We showed up on time but thought we were way early or way late or maybe just missed church altogether because there were only about 10 cars in the parking lot. Mesquite is a small church--probably similar in size to Ayore. This made us somewhat nervous, because we couldn't just hide in the back row. The church service was good. Songs and message. No fluff. Just meat-and-guts gospel. Isaac stayed 15 minutes in the nursery and then tried his I-need-to-go-pee trick to get out. The lady took him potty, and that's when he started wailing for Mommy and Daddy. But 15 minutes is good, especially in a new church in a new place. I remember hiding behind my mom's skirt in Illinois churches where relatives lived, dreading the moment where they'd make us go to Sunday School with kids we'd never seen before. It was grueling to have to even tell the teachers our names. Jared argues that it's good for our kids, and it was probably good for me too. He asked yesterday if I thought I benefitted from it. I told him that it took me 20 years to not mind stuff like that. Anyway, the Mesquite church was a blessing. We'll probably go there next Sunday and maybe even try Sunday School...the kids, too. :)