40 Acts of Lent: day 30 - Step Out

Act thirty - Step Out by Ros Turner

That little voice in your head that tells you it's okay to hold back when you see an opportunity to step out for God. Today we're ignoring it.

"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."

                                                                                                                 Philippians 4:5 (NIV)
 
It sometimes feels like I spend my life on buses and trains, travelling from one meeting to another. Most of the time it's just routine but sometimes, when I least expect it, God gives me a nudge and highlights someone He wants me to talk to. It's at that point I can choose to go with Him or ignore the prompt, but when I go with Him it's a real thrill!

So there I am during the last Tube strike, on a jam-packed bus full of frazzled people, and an elderly Sikh gentleman sits opposite me.
I sense God telling me to speak to him.
Now? When I'm running late for my meeting?
But I put away my phone and I smile. He smiles back. Maybe I can leave it there. But God has other plans. The stranger starts to talk to me and it turns out he's from India, from an area I'd spent time in, so I share my smattering of Hindi with him.
We swap names.

Mr Singh is delighted and we end up speaking about all sorts of things – his wife's death, his own battles with illness and his family's wish for him to live with them in the UK so they could look after him. He shares how much he misses his community back home but finds solace in the community at the Sikh temple and then speaks about one of the founding fathers, a guru who'd sacrificed his family life to pursue his faith. His next question is my God-given chance: 'Do you know anyone who has sacrificed like this man did?'

On that heaving bus, amid the noise and jostling, I said to him, 'Mr Singh, I do. I know someone who gave his very life as a sacrifice so that you and I could have life. His name is Jesus.' I told him about the miracles I'd seen when working with a church in India. I answered his questions and shared my faith with him. Mr Singh listened and so did the other passengers nearby.

We got off at the same stop and shook hands, exchanging blessings. I told him how wonderful it was to meet him and he thanked me and said that he could see God in me. We left it there and then I ran full pelt to make my meeting.

A chance encounter? There's no such thing in my experience, so even when you're feeling like you'd prefer to keep yourself to yourself, step out and God will be with you every step of the way.

Choose how to complete this act...
GREEN OPTION:
Share a bible verse on social media, or with someone in person.

YELLOW OPTION:
Really reflect on how you can be an everyday example of Jesus. Practise sharing your faith with others; brush up on simple tools to help share your faith. If you're stuck for a tool, why not try Two Ways To Live?

RED OPTION:
Pray for an opportunity to share your faith today and look out for it. Go find it.