Go where they are!

I remember when my kids were little; when I had two toddlers, a preschooler, and an elementary child. Four little ones under the age of 10. Back then, every time I turned around, there was a child underfoot. They always wanted to be where I was, doing what I was doing. Rarely did they get far from my sight.

The older they have gotten, though, the further away they have begun to venture. I now have two teenagers, a middle schooler, and an older elementary child. It’s not unusual, even when we’re all home together, for us to all be in different places. I’ll be in my bedroom studying, one child will be working at the kitchen table, one in the living room on the couch, one in their bedroom, and one outside.

Our house isn’t huge, but when we all get separated into our different spaces, talking to one another is an issue. If I’m in the kitchen and Cheyenne is in her bedroom playing her guitar, there is no way she’s going to hear me calling her for schoolwork. Having an intercom in my house would be so handy! But since we don’t, I use the next best thing-the other children. I have four walking talking intercoms at my disposal.

So, I’ll say to one of my children, “Go tell Cheyenne it’s time for her to do Language Arts,” thinking that will save me some steps and I can have a couple extra seconds to throw in some laundry or put some things in the dishwasher. But, somehow, my children always misinterpret what I said. They miss one key word-GO!

Instead of walking down the hallway to the bedroom, opening the door, and calmly giving my message, the child will stand right next to me, without moving a single step, and yell, “CHEYENNE!!!! MOM SAID TO COME DO LANGUAGE ARTS!”

Nice.

And my reply to them is always the same, “There’s no way she’s going to hear you from here. If you need to tell Cheyenne something, go to where she is.”

As Christians, I think we tend to do this a lot in trying to get the Gospel message out to the people who need to hear it. We spend week after week standing in our church auditoriums yelling out “Hey, Jesus loves you and wants to be your Savior.” Our message is exactly what they need to hear. But they can’t hear it…because they aren’t there. They aren’t coming to us.

If we want to reach people outside the church with the message of the Gospel and show them the love of Jesus, we are going to have to go to where they are. It may be at work or at the grocery store or your child’s soccer game. It may be that you talk with them at the park while the kids are playing or as you wait at dance class with the other moms.

It reminds me of the story of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8. Acts 8:29-30 says,

The Spirit told Phillip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’ Then Phillip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Phillip asked.

Phillip didn’t wait for the man to come to him. Phillip went to where the man was. If you continue reading the story, the Ethiopian man asked Phillip about a passage of scripture he didn’t understand and Phillip was able to explain the Gospel to him. The man believed and was baptized.

But it didn’t happen because Phillip stood at a distance yelling the message at the man. It happened because Phillip WENT to him.

Father,

Help me to see the opportunities you put in front of me to not just stand back and wait for someone to come to me to hear about you, but to GO to where they are. I know there are people around me all the time who need to hear about you who may never come into my church or come up and ask me. Help me to see them. Help me to be willing to step out of my comfort zone and meet them where they are. I don’t want to stand back and yell at people from a distance, I want to share your love with them up close. Give me the wisdom and the courage to allow you to lead me to the people who need to hear.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen