Playing in Traffic

If you haven’t read the prior post I would like to invite you to do so before continuing. If time doesn’t allow please scroll down to the definition of successful witnessing.

All my life I remember hearing someone tell me, “Stay out of the traffic” or “Don’t play in the street”. As a mother I have stressed these same points to my children over time BUT on the first training day we heard just the opposite.

As we sat in that room listening to the speaker we hear these words come from his mouth, “We WANT you to go play in the traffic!” As we giggled and joked, his face showed that he wasn’t joking. He really did want us to take the initiative and step out into traffic. That was enough to send anyone back to their room to hid under the pillow especially after the cab ride we had from the airport.

The next morning as we met our team and headed to the port the thought of playing in the traffic was a little unnerving. As we approached the gate, cars were well into the process of proceeding through to board. Some were slowly maneuvering the fully loaded cars (a sight in itself to see) past the authorities and others were zipping right on by. Most of the time it wasn’t one car at a time but rather two wide and very much with an agenda.

Our crew leader led us to the small concrete island at the port entrance. She showed us where our materials were, placed a packet in our hands, turned with a smile and said, “Let’s do it”. Oh how this girl from the south wanted to do what she has done best over the course of her life…step to the farthest point of action, fade into the background and hope no one sees her. But God…God would see. God didn’t allow me to travel this far to hide. God called me to this port. God set these materials in place for a people to freely receive.

I started quickly reviewing my 5 phrases and praying for God to empower me to do this task. Just then a thought ran across my thoughts. My husband has always had a quick little phrase that he spouts when someone steps into the line of traffic, “Go ahead, step out there and meet Jesus”. With that thought it hit me what I was doing, (taking the initiative alert here) I was to go ahead, step out there so someone else could meet Jesus. Once that was settled in my own mind, I quickly felt the need to get these materials into the hands of those passing through.

As the days passed, I found myself excited to go to this gate. Although the other two gates were much slower paced and less likely to have my toes smashed by a tire, I found an excitement at the car gate. I witness God soften the hearts of some passing through, I watched in amazement as God took my jumbled phrases and spoke to the people and they accepted a packet. All the things I saw and experienced was because through God He asked us to take the initiative to share Christ's love through the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to Him!

Are you ready to play in traffic? Ok don’t literally go into the streets and step out into an intersection. But are you ready to play in the traffic of life and step out there so someone else can meet Jesus? I would love to hear how you are "playing in traffic".

His,

Cynthia