Several months ago we hosted a Doable Evangelism seminar here at New Life Community Church. We learned to how to do evangelism without becoming evangelists (ie, pass out tracts, argue with people about “truth”; basically avoiding the confrontational style of sharing Jesus’ love.) We learned to pay attention to people, listen to people, and even pray behind their backs. We heard this ordinary attempt at evangelism this week:

Friday, I spent 45 minutes at Target waiting for a prescription only to learn it isn’t covered by my insurance. I was annoyed and frustrated that I’d wasted so much time on a busy day and still didn’t have what I needed. As I was leaving, I ended up behind a slow-moving couple. Great–another delay! The man was leaning on his cart as he walked along, loudly complaining to his companion that his feet hurt, his back hurts, he hurts all over. I reached ahead to touch his arm and asked if he wanted a prayer. He said yes! We scooted out of the cross walk and I held his hand and prayed he’d have relief from his pain and be able to feel God’s presence, even in his pain. I also prayed for the woman with him that she could continue to be patient and compassionate with him and his pain.

Two minutes earlier I had been consumed by my irritation. After our prayer, I felt lighter, happier and energized. He thanked me, saying “God is good!” and that you never know how God will show up. It would be hard to say who felt better afterward–me or him.

This whole incident lasted only a moment or two, but it was the best part of my day.

There was a women’s retreat in Ojai on Saturday and I was invited to attend by a friend of mine who leads the senior ministry there. I felt like an outsider, but I am pretty outgoing. After the keynote speaker, they broke us into small groups to discuss together and I thought that I was the only outsider in the group. I figured in my head that there must’ve been only about four or five folks like myself there.

When I first sat down, I saw an elderly lady sitting in front of me. She had the most beautiful eyes for a woman of her age, and at one point, she turned around and opened those eyes widely and looked at me. It was like the eruption of the sun first thing in the morning, those big, blue eyes. I smiled warmly at her, and I immediately assumed that she was a member of the church but later during the group session, she mentioned that she was involved with end of life assistance to the elderly. It seemed to be something that we had in common, so when she commented on my voice when we were alone, I mentioned to her that my husband and I had started a senior ministry. Her eyes lit up, and suddenly she reached into her purse and handed me a card about a book she had written about aging joyfully and nurturing the senior spirit.

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This is a family tradition for us.  Sandy’s family puts this event on every Thanksgiving weekend, and although I am not a dirt rider, we all head south to help serve in whatever ways we can.  It’s a wild weekend that includes an 8 hour road trip each way, but we wouldn’t miss it.  

Check it out:  http://www.adayinthedirt.com/