Cars, Books, and Testimonies

"Yer readin' the wrong book," he said to me as I stood up to leave.  The repair man had just briefed me on the status of my car after I had spent the past hour and a half settled into the overstuffed sofa in the waiting room of the auto shop.  Two men had sat across the room from me during this time, talking about their NCAA brackets and contemplating where the broken screw came from that was in one of the man's tires.

I looked down at the book in my arms.  Heaven by Randy Alcorn.  I looked up at the man who had spoken.

"Yer readin' the wrong book," he repeated.  "You should be readin' the one about the Big Guy Himself."

Ohhh, I thought.  Whew.  I wasn't quite sure what direction he had planned to take with his original comment.

"I do read that book," I told him.

"Do ya?  Good."  And then he proceeded to launch into his testimony.  He was in a car accident back in '79 and messed up some of his facial nerves.  It took a few years, but God finally got a hold of him and he turned his life around.  Now he loves God and has been following Him ever since.

"Well, I'm proud of ya," he said to me after I listened to his story and stood there like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to say.  I mumbled a "thank you" and left the shop, head spinning and feeling a little ashamed of myself.

I'd spent the last who-knows-how-many weeks fighting with myself for not being more bold and verbally sharing my faith with any of the hundreds of people who cross my path each week.  I beat myself up over not taking advantage of any and every opportunity to speak the Name of Jesus to my patients and co-workers, yet try to lessen my self-damnation by making excuses of justification.

The truth is, this process itself is a form of procrastination, an excuse I use to put off executing the command Jesus gave to all believers.  After all, I can't go share my faith when I'm still trying to figure out all the "rules" and "methods" and "right ways" of getting it done.

Right?

Yet  here was a man - totally relaxed, chatting with his buddy, out in public - who didn't hesitate to expose his faith to me.  It's not like I handed him a huge opportunity by walking up and asking, "Can you tell me how to get to heaven?"  (I'm finding that as a general rule...most people don't make it that easy.)  He happened to notice the title of the book I was reading, and he found a way to make something happen.

I spend too much time thinking and no time doing.  I desperately hope that the lost will somehow see Christ shining through my life...but really, how am I living in a way that they aren't?  I live in a rural community.  Everyone is nice to each other.

But so many are lost.

So many souls all around me are going to hell when they die.

I hope the lesson this man taught me doesn't fall flat.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  1 Peter 3:15