I went to Camp War Eagle (Sunday through Tuesday) for a college fall retreat with not only my church (UBC) but several other churches in the Fayetteville area. It was so good to meet new people and strengthen some older friendships! There were so many things that happened, but yet there was surprisingly a lot of free time to just relax or do whatever we wanted to. Most of the afternoon, I was feeling a bit adventurous and I climbed halfway up a rock wall and tried out 2 out of the 3 ropes courses (I attempted the third one but chickened out after attempting to step out onto it), and then played a great game of ultimate frisbee. After a good shower, I went back to my cabin and saw only one girl in there, but she was dead asleep, so I took a walk around camp.
Most of the time, whenever I am alone, I feel depressed, because being around other people energizes me and makes me happy. This time, however, I felt more content with being alone as I walked down the dusty gravel road.
I found some picnic tables over by the empty basketball courts, and I plopped down at one of them. The sun was shining through the trees and would probably set in a little over an hour and a half. Along with it shining over the nearby lake's waters and with a plethora of colorful leaves all over the still green grass, it was one of the most beautiful scenes of nature that I had ever witnessed with my own eyes. I sighed with contentment.
As I sat there with my legs crossed on the picnic table, I started thinking. Typical questions that everyone wants answered: What am I going to be doing with my life after college? What am I going to be doing DURING my time at college? What does God want for me to do with my life? Am I currently doing what God wants me to do?
After sitting there for a few minutes, I walked around some more and then it ended up being time for dinner. After that, we had our last real session for the retreat on what was really a covered deck (because it wasn't really a building; it was all made of wood and it was technically outside). The sessions were all about the Gospel: what it is (in depth), what a Gospel-saturated person looked like/acted, and how we can "flesh out" the Gospel. The last session was especially good, because the speaker shared 4 "challenges" that we as believers should be able to say when our lives end: "I lived Christ" (fleshing out the Gospel), "I taught Christ" (not just acting, but also sharing and teaching what the Word means), "I followed Christ" (obeying what God's called us to, individually and as a believer in general), and "I loved Christ more than I loved myself" (kind of a challenge towards us meaning, do you love yourself more than you love Christ?) He made a great point that we often make excuses for not sharing the Gospel with other people, either because we're too lazy, we don't care enough about them, or we're afraid of what they'll think of us. But anywho... back to my story.
The wind began to pick up and it got really chilly. I looked over and saw lightning and heard thunder booming in the distance. When the session was over, it was too late to go back to our cabins to put our stuff up; the storm had come. We had to wait it out, and it was pretty cool (literally) to watch light streaking across the sky and feel the freezing mist even standing in the middle of the deck. It was a bit scary because technically we were outside in the middle of a thunderstorm (which seems childish but I had never done that before), but yet I knew that we were going to be okay.
When the rain died down and the storm subsided, we quickly moved to the cafeteria (which was an actual building) and played bunko for several hours.
Later, I thought about this incident as I recalled what I was thinking just hours before on the picnic table. The topic of last night's session and the weather parallel each other so well: the thunderstorm is like sharing our faith with the people around us. Even the thought of it scares us, whether only a little or so much that you feel like throwing up. I think what it all boils down to is that we're out of our comfort zones when we do share the Gospel with other people, especially if they happen to be close friends or people that we know really well. It's definitely easier to share the Gospel with people that you've never met nor will ever see again and hand them a tract and say, "Hey, you need Christ; now good luck!" and send them on their way. But more times than not, that's not how it works.
However, despite what the outcome is or their reaction to what you have to say is, we know that God has it all taken care of and that everything will be okay. It's not the end of the world if they don't respond in faith; in fact, most people won't. We have to remember though, that ultimately it's GOD that is able to change hearts, not us. By grace, He uses us and WANTS to use us as His seed-planters; we can plant the seeds, but only God can make them grow and flourish. All we have to do, is obey Him. He has called us ALL to "go therefore and MAKE DISCIPLES of all nations" in Matthew 28:19... Meaning that we shouldn't just hand them a tract and send them on their way. It's a constant pouring into people, keeping up with them and such. It's also comforting to know that He didn't just command us to do it and say "Well good luck with that!" He tells us in the next verse (v.20) that He is with us ALWAYS, to the end of the age.
Now the question stands: what's keeping YOU from sharing your faith with the people around you? Is it fear? Lack of compassion for the lost? If there's anything holding you back, give it up to God. Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." God will change your heart if you ask Him to.
This is as much a challenge for me as it is for anybody... I'm always afraid to say the wrong things or mess up the message in some way. But God can change the heart of anyone despite if we stumble in our words or can't answer every single question.
All we have to do is obey the call.
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