I exited the elevator at work, stopped for a minute to pause, then took a deep and calming breath to relax a bit before punching in my security code and entering the control room where I work. The man I am relieving turns his attention from the computer bank in front of him long enough to smile and greet me as I enter the room. “I’ve been waiting on you for twelve hours”, a joke we all say often, as it was twelve hours ago when he relieved me. I take my lunch back to the kitchen and place it in the fridge, pour a cup of Joe, and head back out to the control room for the exchange of information that we do daily at shift change. Max tells me what has gone on with the units today (power plant units) and I make a mental note of things. He than tells me the latest in the plant, and then he gets into more casual talk. His son is in the navy, and is graduating from tech school, his daughter made the softball team, etc.
Max grabs his jacket and lunchbox and begins the process for heading to the door when I say “hey, you got a sec” and he says sure, what’s up. I go near to him and in a whisper ask him if he and his wife would like to go to church with my family this weekend, we are having a guest speaker who is a retired NFL quarterback that went to two Super Bowl’s. I know Max is a football buff so this should be a sure hook, how can he resist?
Max gets a strained look on his face and say’s “I don’t do church Jim, I have told you that before, why would this time be different?” I start to stumble a bit and then say “because I knew you liked this player, and you can even get to talk to him, and get his autograph”. He looks at me with thinly veiled disgust, and slowly shakes his head side to side. He then looks at me and says quietly “I have my reasons for not wanting to go to church, why can’t you just leave me alone”? He asks me to step outside the door for a second so that we can talk in private, and I follow him out the door.
He then tells me that he grew up going to church three times a week at a small church in a rural area. The church had an Easter and Christmas attendance of one hundred thirty-five back then, almost three decades ago. That same church has an Easter and Christmas attendance of seventy five today. The Pastor used to preach fire and brimstone sermons every Sunday morning, week after week. If you missed church and weren’t on life support, you were “Going to hell”. If you didn’t tithe you were “Going to hell”. If you cheated on your wife, lusted after someone, exceeded the posted speed limit, drank alcohol, or cursed when angry, you were “Going to hell”.
A young lady in the congregation would come every time the doors were open, and would diligently follow the Pastor’s sermon with her worn Bible, often writing notes in a small notebook she carried. She was a shy woman who kept to herself and always looked away if you made eye-contact; she was what we would call a wallflower. One day someone noticed she was starting to look as though she may be pregnant, so after the potluck one day, one of the deacon’s wives approached her under the guise of friendship and determined that “yes” she was in fact pregnant and “no” she was in fact not married. After the pot luck, the Elders and Deacons met with the Pastor to discuss this latest development, and determined that if she was not married, and was pregnant, that she needed to go somewhere else, after all, this isn’t California.
The little gal was shown the door that evening after services, and she left sobbing. The church leadership looked at each other and shrugged. It is our responsibility to protect the membership from this kind of thing, right? The following Tuesday, the young lady chose to take her own life by hanging herself in the closet at her mom and dad’s house. Her friend would later reveal that she had been raped on a date with a young man she had met at work, and that she chose to keep the baby.
Max paused for a moment to let that sink in. Wow, I said, that is a bad story for sure, but you can’t let that sour you completely towards God, things are different these days. Max then went on, the Pastor had later begun to drink, and had gotten involved with a woman who worked at the church. He had eventually left his wife of twenty two years and three sons for a twenty three year old bimbo. The relationship with the bimbo had lasted three years, then she left him for a skateboarder. The Pastor had grown his hair long and was drinking heavy and even started smoking pot to top it all off. Max then stopped talking, and I sensed his story was over, so I plunged forward. Max, you can’t let a little bad experience taint the rest of your life, that guy was a loser. Max then looked up at me and his eyes were glistening, “Yep, that Guy was a loser, and he still is, he is my dad and he lives with us”.
I was stunned, my mouth hung open, the words were gone, and I had nothing. Max actually placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed as he walked away to head home for the day. I returned to the control room and began my work day. The words of encouragement were gone, my well rehearsed lines no-where in sight.
This is the real world, people are messed up, confused, abused, betrayed, and unloved. Asking someone to go to church with you is a noble, well meaning gesture, but it is not sufficient for today’s world. We need to be willing to actually become friends with those we would bring to church. We should also run through our minds scenarios of questions people may ask, excuses people may give for why they are holding back on Christ.
If you are a salesman, you have probably run scenarios about what to do if a customer rejects a product, If you are a pilot, you have probably run a scenario on what to do if an engine fails, If you are a school teacher, you probably know what to do if there is a fire drill. Why should your faith be any different, we cannot afford to go into vapor lock when someone recounts a scenario we didn’t count on. One thing that is for sure, Love and comfort is something the world should see coming from us always.
God Bless and Keep You-Always
JFT
Thank you for another real-to-life story. I had not thought to have a back up plan, so needed to hear this and pray about it! God bless you! deb
Yes, this always boggles me, what to say. Someone who has never heard the Word, or been exposed to Christ is easy by comparison to those who have been deeply wounded by those professing faith. It calls for love, compassion and a sharpening of the sword. Sometimes there are no words, you just listen, this is what I need to work on. God Bless
Jim
Jim,
What an incredibly sad…but true reality. I know I have reacted the same or even worse when confronted with such ugly truth….But, like Jesus said…it is the sick that need the doctor and say as we will….I prefer to deal with those who are not very sickly than deal with the critically sick. May…the Lord hear my prayer this day. Through His enabling love, I desire to love the unlovable, the rejected and downcast. I want to be associated with the less privileged in life.
Lord, hear my/our prayer. Make our hearts true to the calling you have put in each of our hearts.
Jim, thank you for writing from the heart. We cannot afford to sugarcoated our words just for convenience sake. I am deeply challenged by your words!
God bless you.
Gladwell
Thanks Gladwell,
I appreciate your thoughts, God Bless you
Jim
Wow… great post! I have had to ask God to give me the words and the spirit….. I am still a work in progress 🙂
God bless!
Thanks Robyn,
Yes, aren’t we all. Sometimes there are just no words, none. I pray daily that he will give me the words and put me where he wants me. God Bless
Jim
Jim,
Thank you for the reminder about us being prepared. Having said that, I also believe that I’ve been at those crossroads many a time and what has truly helped for me is to step back and pray. For a long time, I tried to share the gospel with my mom and colleagues at work but I kept getting resistance and terrible tales from the past that I could not deal with. My wife then asked me to step back and start praying for these people I loved and I was amazed to see how God worked dramatically in their lives and how these same friends/family came to me or other believers and were open to getting help. Prayer is the one preparation we need always and being open to God’s leading too. Your friend may have rejected you many times but he will always remember that you are different and so is your life. Pray that God will use you or other believers to help your friend see the truth and watch God work wonders. I’ve seen more people come to faith bye coming to us for help with little issues than when we went out to help them.
Blessings,
Vineet
Very great response Vineet,
Prayer is what we depend on as our direct path communication with God. We like to think as followers of Christ that we have all the answers and can show people the path to happiness, but it is simply not so, some people are extremely broken. God can always do a better job with people than we can, and by taking it to Him in prayer, he can heal all. Many of our most inspiring pastors, ministers, missionaries and everyday desciples were of the extremely broken background.
God Bless
Jim
Jim,
Recently, inspired by your devotionals, I have been praying asking God to use me in the lives of people around me and to my surprise, people have been coming forward asking for prayer. Like last night, I had a recent aquaintance call me and in the course of our conversation he shared a marital issue that he is going through. I was able to direct him back to the cross and share my failures that God turned into opportunities for change and by the grace of God, it worked and he and his wife have decided to give each other a chance.
We often think that we are failures because we are not stepping out in faith and saving the lost but God wants us to simply be ready to join in the harvest and not start harvesting till the time is right. Our willingness is the first step and he takes the next 9 to teach us how to harvest, equips us and then uses us in transformational ways. Keep sowing brother and I will be praying with you that God continues to use you to bless many with your testimonies, life experiences, stories and in doing so transforming us into God’s likeness.
Blessings,
Vineet
Hi again! Just back to say that Vineet’s comment about praying really touched me in relationship to knowing what to say to people. To just step back and pray. Now to not just acknowledge that that’s what I need to do, but to do it! Thanks so much Jim and Vineet!
Vineet and Deb,
You guys are such an inspiration to me. I really depend on prayer for my everything, it gets me through everything, and you two are in my prayers twice every day and have been since we met here. I pray that I may inspire you to be better in your walks as you inspire me. God Bless our group!
In Him
Jim