The Exciting Things in Life

This week I've been busy writing articles that will be posted on the web. I have a list of topics that I'm to write about, so I began by choosing 5. One of the topics I'd chosen was on sharing Jesus without fear, and as I sat there thinking about how to write this article, I was overwhelmed and wanted to walk away...forever. I shouldn't be one to write an article on how to share Jesus without fear, because I get so scared I could...well, throw up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid to share Jesus Himself, and I don't care what people think of me when I tell them. For me, I just have a hard time talking to people, especially people I don't know, about anything. I know that's hard for some to believe, but now you know that you're among the privileged few that I'm comfortable with talking (a lot) to! Anyway, that was the first article I was going to write, but after my overwhelming thoughts, I set it aside for last, and as I wrote the other articles, I prayed for wisdom in how to write this article. I could have put it off for the very last, but it still would have been there in the end. As it was, God showed me something that I'd never seen before, and I'm just so excited, I have to share it with you, and if you're like me and afraid to share Jesus because it means talking to people, I hope this will encourage you, too!

• Moses was afraid! Look up Exodus 3-4:16
• Jeremiah the prophet was afraid! Check out Jeremiah 1:4-9
• Paul, the Apostle, was afraid! I know this one is probably hard to believe, but go to I Corinthians 2:3. When he admitted his fear, I was curious as to when in his ministry he'd gone to Corinth, and found out that it was well into his SECOND missionary journey! And look how God used him despite his fear!
• Timothy was afraid! Go to I Corinthians 16:10, then I Timothy 4:12-15 and II Timothy 1:6-8 and see how that Paul tried to encourage him, and tried to encourage others to encourage him (I've had people do that with me!).
  

There is no more excuse for not sharing Jesus. Fear is a big issue, I understand, but look what happens when people go on and talk about Jesus despite fear! I want to be like these men, totally not letting my fear stop me!

I had a great opportunity on Thursday to talk to teens about Jesus. There's a church here that has an outreach called a "pizza feed" for the students at the public high school across the street from the church. I went, and they have tables set up in their fellowship hall, and offer food and drinks, and also put up a question on the wall that has to do with spiritual things. This month's question was, "What do you think happens to you after you die?" There were several people from the church who were there to talk to the kids, and there were also pieces of paper on the tables where they could write their answers down. I was able to talk to a table full of teens and got some amazing answers. I tried to talk to them some about the Truth, but we really only have between 5-7 minutes to talk to them. They're very interested in talking, but not about spiritual things. I did talk to one girl (a senior) who knew for sure that she was a Christian. She was a bit shy to tell people, saying that she preferred that they just see the difference in her lifestyle, and I was able to share with her what God has just shown me about the people in the Bible who were afraid, and yet how they talked about God anyway. I pray that she took it to heart and was encouraged! I'm definitely looking forward to going back and talking to them some more. There is another opportunity coming up, but that's something to be talked about at a later date.

This coming weekend will be a longer weekend because of the holiday on Monday. This will be the first time I've ever had off for a little holiday! Wonder what I'll get into...