In my time away I have joined a roller derby team! I completely love it! It is fun and good exercise and filled with a great bunch of girls. I have never taken to something so quickly and cannot stop telling everyone (like all of you!) and inviting them to join! I can find ways to bring it up in any conversation with anybody.
I wish I was this way when I was talking about my faith. I can tell 5 or 6 people in one day about how much I love derby and not tell one how much I love Jesus and more importantly how much He loves them.
I wonder if I'm being unfair to myself, because it's not easy to bring up faith, but when you compare it to an somewhat obscure sport (esp here) like roller derby, I have to admit there has to be a lot more chances. I'm just not looking. I have convinced myself that the way to share God's love is through my actions but how will they ever know the reason why I act the way I do if I never tell them? I also worry about being pushy. We have freedom of speech here but that does not guarantee people will want to listen. Not only do they not listen, it's common to be put down for your christian beliefs.
So what do I do then? I read this one book once, Frank Peritti's This Present Darkness which was a really great read that helped give me an idea of how angels and demons might work amongst us. There was this one part in it that always stuck with me, when this youth was having a conversation with the pastor and noticed that all the pastor's conversations eventually lead to talk of Jesus b/c that was the center of that man's life and it all always led back to him. I've always wanted to be like that.
I think if I focus more and more on God it will come more naturally. If He really does become my center everything will lead to Him. I'll just have to make sure I'm listening to God. He'll give me openings and the words to say if I let Him. And I think I'll start rereading those books in the Bible about the early churches, they have a lot of wisdom and not just for new Christians. I'll leave with a verse that recently struck a chord within me.
Ephesians 1:19-20
New Living Translation (NLT)
19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
