A couple of weeks ago, some friends and I were sitting in a conference room at work having lunch.  I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but we ended up discussing this story about Beth Moore and her encounter with an elderly man in an airport.

As we talked about the incident, I made a comment something along the lines of …I could never do that.  God would not do something like that to me.  I know…everybody reading is shaking their heads at the ignorance and audacity of such a statement. 

Fast forward a couple of weeks…

Emily was bored with my her dream of being a ballerina and decided to try gymnastics.  This meant that, instead of 30 minutes on Monday nights, I am now committed to sitting in a tiny waiting room for 60 minutes on Thursday nights.  Now, being the introvert that I am, I show up prepared with adequate reading material to hide in a corner for an hour without having to engage in too much small talk. 

However, the very first week of Emily’s Thursday night class…I notice an elderly man sitting on the other side of the room.  He appears to be in his mid to late seventies.  He is wearing gray dress shoes, a plaid sport coat and has a full head of silver hair.  He appeared quite out of place amidst all of the 30-something moms.  I could not help but notice how, when he would attempt to talk to one of the ladies in the room, they would respond with a tight smile that acknowledged him but did not encourage further conversation.  I felt safe on the other side of the room with my head buried in a book…a Beth Moore book, no less.

Yet, I can’t seem to shake the feeling…I think I’m supposed to do something, but I don’t know what…

I am now in the book of Ezekiel and read this passage this morning:

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. When you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me. If I say to the wicked person: You will surely die, but you do not warn him—you don’t speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life—that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood. But if you warn a wicked person and he does not turn from his wickedness or his wicked way, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.  – Ezekiel 3:17-19  HCSB

Yet I will hold you responsible…something about that just convicted me.  I’ll be honest, witnessing to people has always been an area where I have failed the most.  I will do almost any act of service.  When I say I will pray for someone…I really do.  But, to tell someone about Christ and their need of Him…I become a babbling idiot.  Unfortunately, I have long used my shyness and insecurity as excuses to not share my faith.  I keep thinking…If anyone ever asks me, then I’ll be prepared.  Oddly enough, God doesn’t say…when they come to you and ask…  God tells Ezekiel…When you hear a word from My mouth, you give them a warning from Me. 

A warning…suddenly, the seriousness of it all hit me.  God tells Ezekiel…You need to tell him in order to save his life.  That is what is at stake here…people’s lives.  I’m ashamed at how long I have lived in the safety of my salvation bubble…knowing that I was going to heaven when I died, but having little concern for those around me.  I love what my beloved pastor used to say…My mission is to go to heaven when I die and take as many people as I can with me.  Bro. Glenn is now in heaven and I have no doubt that many are on their way there because of him.

I love this video clip…

Penn is an outspoken atheist…yet, even he is appalled at people who claim to be Christians but do not make any attempt to convert others to Christianity…this sentence, in particular, really got to me…

How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that.

So, I am praying now that I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit…that I will know what it is He would have me to do…

Please, Lord…just don’t make me brush his hair…