As I think about evangelism and try to encourage others to share Jesus with others, I am always challenged in my life to "practice what I preach." A couple weeks ago I was at a local department store looking for cargo pants for my husband to wear to China. (He likes the pockets on international flights.) I was overwhelmed by the different sub-departments in the men's sections. After looking to no avail, a lady named Sue asked if she could help me. I told her what I needed and she went over the whole men's department to find exactly what I needed.As I was checking out, I thanked her for her perseverance and told her how rare it was to find people like her in stores. She immediately said she knew that values had changed in our culture and that she was worried about her grandchildren growing up in today's chaos. I felt like she opened the door to say that I agreed that it was scary to raise kids in our society, but that I felt a good church youth group and a personal relationship with Christ helped my four children find good friends and make wise choices. I asked her if she had a church.
Sue immediately said she was Catholic, but said she and her husband were thinking about visiting other churches (she did not attend a particular church). I invited her to our church where my husband had just taken a new pastorate and gave her a gospel booklet I had in my purse. She said they might visit and she accepted the booklet.
I hope she and her husband do come and I plan to visit her soon in the men's department. But through this, God reminded me to keep looking for opportunities and to "keep the main thing the main thing."
Paul said in Colossians 4:3 "And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ..."
