The
Waiting Witness
9/4/14
How
important do you think witnessing is to those who do not know God? Is
witnessing even a top priority within the walls of today’s Church? If
I asked myself those two questions concerning the Church, the answers would bug
me since I really do not believe that this mission is deemed important any
longer. Why does the Church even consider herself viable if this is
the case and if she does still consider this subject matter important? And
do we even feel convicted when a perfect opportunity arises to witness and we
say nothing? All of us have had those at some point.
In
the northern hemisphere of the world fall is approaching. This
seasonal change is undeniable and we have just a few short weeks remaining
until the weather turns cold and then we must prepare for winter. But
as the sun sets earlier each day the Colorado evenings and nights automatically
cool faster and the mornings warm slower. This pattern will mean
many things to the residents here and that a return of a certain critter that
one can find annoying. I was born and raised in the South and almost
the entire year I could hear crickets making their noises outside my
window. But here in Colorado cricket season is just that, a season.
When
fall is approaching the crickets seem to appear overnight and then they are
everywhere. If my youngest daughters sees one in the house you would
think that a poisonous snake was at their feet, but for this southern boy it is
a delight to see then hopping around the floor trying to get out of the way of
humans. I do have to admit that sometimes their rubbing noises can
prohibit sleep patterns and after a prolonged serenade it is time for it to
stop. Now, I am not an environmentalist but I do hold a special spot
in my heart for animals and while this example concerning witnessing and the
use of a cricket might be unusual, it does have a point and it does serve what
God wants us to hear concerning witnessing. And no, I did not
witness to a cricket.
I
arrive at work very early during the week day morning and at this specific time
there is usually not many people inside my building when I walk through the
doors. However, there are many early Fall days that when I do open
the door to my building that I can hear crickets chirping somewhere along the
walls of the main hallway. Most of the time they are located behind
the doors that I pass but sometimes they have crossed under the doorway and
found their way into the hall. At this moment the cricket must know
that someone is coming and that they should take the appropriate measures to
get out of the way of the tall human coming its way. But the lone
cricket that I encountered this day had already positioned itself right up next
to the baseboard of the wall safely out of any human shoe.
This
cricket was a large one and it was not easily missed. Now, I am not
expert on crickets but it was a good inch long and it looked to be in good
condition, for a cricket so I believe I can say that it was an adult. As
I came closer to the cricket it did not move at all and even when I was right
up to it, no motion was noticed by my eyes. As I was passing bye I
just randomly said “watch it cricket” and kept on going down the hall. I
say this phrase to my cat at home because he likes to sit in one place and as
soon as you get close, stand up and move right in front of you; makes for a
humorous scene if you are watching it and not being a part of it.
At
that time I had no other thoughts about the cricket and to be honest did not
think about the thing again until I saw it again on my way back to the main
hospital building with my controls and paperwork. While I was
approaching it I had a quick thought that I needed to pick it up and take it
outside so that it would be safe. I also noticed that it had not
really moved too much and that it was still hugging the baseboard of the
wall. After y thought I did not stop and continued to walk towards
the door to the parking lot, not thinking about picking up the cricket until I
was walking back towards my cubby hole in Oncology.
As I
approached the door it was then that I had the same thought about picking up
the cricket and putting it on the grass outside but once again as I reached the
area of where it was at I continued my stride right on bye the thing and did
not move him as I had previously and now repeatedly thought about. I
did say hi to the cricket again and I guess I was justifying my passing by
being “cordial” to the thing; seems silly I know but you know how humans are
sometimes.
The
process of passing by the cricket occurred two more times before lunch time and
each time I was “cordial” to the thing but did not do anything about placing it
out for safety reasons. The last tour of my pathway before lunch
threw an added tinge to the setting. As I approached the main
building I heard many crickets outside making their normal noises and as soon
as I heard them I immediately had the thought of my hallway cricket once
again. Yes, picking him up ran through my mind but still I did not believe
there was anything wrong with it staying out of the way in the hall. On
my return trip I continued my ignorance of the cricket and walked passed it
like nothing was out of the ordinary.
After
I had finished my lunch it was time to take some more send out specimens over
to the main lab. A good forty minutes had passed since my last trip
to the main building and the specimens were beginning to pile up so I decided
to make a quick trip over. As I went out my door the thought of that pesky
cricket entered my mind again but this time I really did not have time to
really do anything with it so I dismissed it out of my mind even before I
reached the hallway. As I turned the corner my eyes suddenly caught
a small mess on the floor in the general area of where the cricket had been
sitting, my heart sank because I knew exactly what had happened.
As I
approached the cricket, my eyes confirmed what I had first believed; someone
had stepped on the cricket and killed it. I did not have any clue of
who might have done this to the cricket and to be honest, it was only a
cricket, right? I did not lose too much of my stride as I continued
to fix my eyes on the cricket. I passed by and even though it was
only a cricket I realized that I had plenty of opportunity to move it before
someone else came along with other ideas. The only control over the
situation that I had was from the time I first saw the cricket until the last
time that I saw it alive. I had plenty of time to move it and do my
best to ensure that it lived a bit longer. But it was someone else
who actually took the initiative and took care of the cricket in their own
manner. While this dropped my heart I had no reason to be upset or
angry with anyone but myself because I had not done anything but walk on by the
thing many times previously.
The
only thing that I could be upset with is my own actions. I had
plenty of chances to change the cricket’s life and probably extend it a little
longer but I chose not to. While this was a cricket and I should not
be feeling terrible about its loss, God used this setting to teach me a thing
about life and how important it is that we do the right thing when it comes to
humans and their spiritual lives. It is kind of funny that God uses
a cricket to bring back an important concept and principle about Kingdom and
eternity.
How
many times have we as Christians had the opportunity to witness to someone and
walked right on bye and did nothing, just as I did with the cricket? I
guarantee that each one of you reading this article has had some type of
opportunity that God has whispered into your spirit to witness to someone and
you have done nothing; I will be the first to admit this fault. I
know from personal experiences that I have had plenty of opportunities to
complete this basic and simple step in Kingdom principles and have totally
blown it.
I
also know that I have had these opportunities and then have that person walk
out of my life and I never hear from them again, or that their lives have been
extinguished for some specific reason. Whatever the case my
opportunity for them to know about God passed and now I have no way of finding
out if they ever received another chance for eternal life. In some
cases you are the only one available to complete this task and in some cases
you are not, but do we really want to leave it up to someone else?
God
places people on our hearts for a reason and it is our responsibility to heed
to His voice when He wants us to witness or to be a godly example to
others. Just walking by the cricket and allowing it to live for the
time being was a nice gesture on my part but in the end it was wrong because I
did not try and correct its immediate condition which I clearly understood that
it could be in danger through what I had done to crickets and witnessed what
others did to them also in the past. Even though this example is
totally different in nature the concepts and principles of the entire event can
be watched each moment of the day.
We must
never forget that we are the only tools that God has to tell and share His
truth to others. It is a fact that God shall never force His ways
upon our lives; therefore, we are it when it comes to witnessing. Since
this fact about God is a truth we must remember to present God in a manner to
which is appropriate, in other words we cannot scream at those who are willing
to listen, we must be firm in our stance but kind through our words. For
God loves everyone and it is through our voices that He can operate
through. If we continually ignore this principle or place it at a
lower priority within our lives, we are failing God and in the end have no one
else to blame but ourselves when the world turns its wicked head again.
It
is a fact that we have no control over what other people do in their ways that
is why it is important that we share with them about God. It is our
choice to accept God’s ways and it too is their choice to accept God’s
ways. Life occurs for everyone and we have no idea what the next 15
seconds holds for us so why would we even wait to tell someone about God’s plan
and love for our lives. God has a purpose for our lives and if this
purpose needs to be shared with someone, He has a reason and a purpose for
theirs as well. God understands your heart and knows just the right
person to witness to certain people. This is an unexplainable gift
that we all have but many of us do not know it or have hidden so deep behind
our inner walls that it has gathered spiritual dust.
So I
ask you the question once again of how important is witnessing to you? And
how important do you believe it is to God? I hope that this little,
and wild, example can shed some light on how things work in our lives and in
others as well. No one is guaranteed a long future so it is very
important that when God speaks to our hearts concerning someone else, we really
need to heed and to obey His voice.
Sadly,
many of us do not care to hear God’s voice any longer. We have
become so diluted with the practices of the world that we have totally
forgotten the witnessing concept. We must trust God enough to know
that He understands the attitudes and circumstances of each person walking this
earth and when our paths cross with each other we will be ready to share the
gospel when He anoints. When we take the opportunity to witness
God’s voice will then be allowed to minister into the other person’s life if
they choose and that is all God is asking for us to do is to give Him the
opportunity to change someone else’s life.
Do
not use the excuse of being too busy or I should have said something when it
comes to witnessing. If that person rejects you, then it is
fine. If they accept the invitation of God then fine. But
it is through your willingness to obey God’s voice that counts for if we do not
listen and obey then it is a guarantee that their lives become less likely to
receive God. Witnessing is an easy thing to do if we are listening
for God’s voice on a continual basis. I have passed countless
numbers of crickets in my lifetime and really have not been too concerned about
their welfare, but for this one cricket I did not listen to my gut
feeling. I probably will pass countless more crickets in my future
and I probably will not have this same feeling ever again; but I do not know
this to be a fact.
I
will however remember that when I do have those feelings I will acknowledge
them and do something pertinent about the situation. We need to have
the same love and caring mentality towards our fellow human beings. For
once the world comes along and shatters their lives many do not recover and
some literally die. If God lays it upon your heart to witness to a
person or a family, please do it. It is a life and death choice, on
both sides of the issue because at one time you yourself were in the same lost
condition as those people are in.
DLB
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