Once in a while, especially on Saturday mornings, I will be working around the house when I see people walking up the road. Usually, they are nicely dressed and wearing backpacks. I start running through the house closing blinds as I loudly whisper to the kids to be quiet. “I don’t have time for this today!” I think, “I’m not equipped for a debate!” But my attitude has recently changed thanks to a recent experience I will share below. The point of this is to encourage you to reach out to those friendly visitors at your door.
For the past several years, I have been a representative for a home school curriculum. Basically, this means that for a weekend I get to man a booth and hangout with some fellow home school moms. It is a fun job, almost like getting paid to go on vacation. Up until this year, I have always done Christian-sponsored conventions. In April, I added two more conventions one being a secular group and other was a non-Christian, religious group.
As I worked these conventions, I felt the Lord’s hand at work in my heart. The greatest impact came from my time with families in this non-Christian group. These families looked a whole lot like the families I am use to serving at the Christian conventions. They are conservatively dressed, sweet families with lots of babies and well-behaved children. They were kind to me, several took the time to sit down at my booth to just get to know me and make friendly conversation.
As the days went on, I found myself increasingly sad over the reality that they were spiritually deceived. On the final day, I worked up the courage to listen in on part of a keynote address. The speaker was a young man who encouraged the youth to “read the scriptures” which he clarified to mean, the scriptures found in this particular religion’s holy book.
I was heading back to my booth deep in thought. Then, across the room I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. There was a group of teenage boys under the volunteer sign. Clearly, they were there to help with the graduation ceremonies. I occurred to me that they looked a whole lot like the young men I saw walking up my street on various Saturday mornings… the ones I have avoided like the plague.
This weekend helped me to see these families the way Jesus sees all of us… lost without Him. We don’t have to have the perfect arguments. We don’t have to win the debates. We also don’t have to feel uncomfortable or fearful, we need to see how we’ve been loved by Jesus and take time to engage and share that love with them. I’m so thankful that I had this opportunity to see things through new eyes.