…..and your still reading

It’s true, evangelism makes many of us uneasy. Perhaps we have winced as street corner preachers harangued passersby. Maybe some earnest proselytizer made us uncomfortable at home or some other public place? I used to call these people bible thumper’s. Or even someone close to us found our expression of faith wanting? So what do we do when we hear we must carry the good news of the gospel to others, we just don’t know how to begin. How do we do this without embarrassing or offending others as we have felt? Perhaps it starts by staying grounded in our own faith community.

History tells us that Jesus called the Twelve “and began to send them out two by two” he sent them out in a relationship to form relationships. The disciples were to “take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts”. Like those early evangelists, we must approach others in humble empty-handedness. We come interested in those we meet, ready to hear their stories and be willing to understand what matters to them. Isn’t this the way to really meet people anyway? Eventually, in a natural give-and-take we can talk about our spiritual journey. Jesus’ detractors wondered with scorn: “Where did this man get all this?” Whatever wisdom and power Jesus had; came from God.

So why does all this matter in today’s world? A world of busy people, families, jobs, bills, cars, traffic, cell phones, computers and more. It’s hard to remember with so much going on in everyone’s lives what things in life really matter. In everything we do, every person we meet and all those in our lives deserve to know all that God has given them. We can really only share this by living or striving to live a life of gratitude, of love and true caring of others. If you believe as I do that Jesus is real and that he is the son of God as well as God, that he walks beside each of us whatever our faith or background then we will never walk alone. Our faith will always be our companion, no matter how busy we are.

You’re still reading. I’m still writing, so please keep following…..

Craig