Happy Birthday

We have been going to Charlie Brown’s for dinner on Wednesday evenings since the summer. We would often sit outside and the servers would bring my puppy, Rocky, a dog bowl. We have made friends with many of them since then. Before I took off for Tampa, Florida one of our favorite servers told us that her 21st birthday was coming up. She said that she was going to Charlie Browns because they were going to serve her free drinks. She asked us to come and join her. So we showed up at like 10:30 pm on a Saturday night. It was a very late night. However, it was worth it. It was somewhat sad because none of the girl’s friends showed up except her boyfriend. She was grateful we were there. We wanted to support her and take care of her if she was going to drink too much. She literally only weighs 80 pounds! I was proud of her because she did not give into the peer pressure that many of her co-workers were trying to place on her. By us showing up to her little birthday celebration, we have intensified our relationship with this girl. God keeps teaching me that if we are willing to show up and get out of the way He can do His thing. Even if that means showing up to someone’s 21st birthday party where you know they are going to drink and possibly drink in excess. She was going to do this regardless if we showed up. I have realized we need to cast off the “conventional” ways we do evangelism. It is more than stepping outside the four walls of the church and stepping inside the dark places where the light is dim. We were not the first presence of God to show up Saturday night at Charlie Browns. God was working in our little server long before we came on the scene. This scenario brings into question everything I have ever learned about evangelism. Are we willing to go to places where other Christians might not want to go or feel comfortable in going? Are we like the chief priests and Pharisees who hammer people like Jesus and the disciples who commune with “sinners and tax collectors?”