Speaking with all boldness
 
I’ve been reading a lot of Scriptures about boldness this week: “When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) “Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness...” (Acts 4:29) “And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14) “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Philippians 1:20) I need these passages as I go out and, in a sense, be a new kind of street evangelist. I really need them in my encounters with strangers on the street. Every morning this week, I’ve reflected on these passages and I get inspired and am filled with the Holy Spirit, ready to go out there and yet when I do go out there, it’s almost like there’s this plexiglass wall that I run into and I comically fall to the ground. I don’t anticipate standing on the street corner preaching the gospel, but I do hope to at least be open to having conversations with people. Yesterday was a prime example. I had a great meeting with my ministry partner, Trey, and after that I had about 45 minutes until my next appointment. I brought my lunch with me so I went over to the Daley Plaza (above--right across the street from the Chicago Temple, aka First United Methodist Church) to have my PB&J sandwich there. It was a crummy day weather-wise. Mid-60s and rain. I did find a little table with a covering, however, and I sat down across from another woman who was eating some Thai food (I know it was Thai because there was this Thailand festival going on, complete with Thai gymnasts/dancers and a Thai fashion show, which must have been miserable in that rain). Here was the perfect opportunity to practice boldness. I could have simply asked how her lunch was. I could have made a comment about the weather. There were any number of ways I could have at least gauged whether she wanted to have a simple conversation. I wasn’t planning on giving her my testimony or the four points to salvation. Just be nice. Instead, I buried my head in the sports page and soon the woman left. Not long after that a young couple came over and asked if they could sit down and I opened my hand as a way to invite them to sit down. I quickly learned by listening to their conversation that they were foreign tourists (German?), but they also seemed to speak a little English. They seemed very nice, pleasant people. Me? Kept reading about the White Sox and Cubs. I didn’t get too down on myself because I know this kind of thing is a little out of character for me and will take some practice. More than that, it will take constant, constant prayer, prayer to be bold even if boldness is simply saying, “How’s your lunch?” I finally updated my photos on this blog--shots from our time of living in the city. I’m still not sure whether I’m going to keep doing it, but I’m Twittering. You can follow me at genxrev.
Thursday, July 9, 2009