A few weeks back, my wife and I attended Christian Faith Center’s Vision Conference in Federal Way, WA. One of the workshops I attended was led by CFC’s Outreach Director (I think her name is Megan). She talked about… you guessed it… outreach (yes, one of my favorite subjects). She compared reaching out into our communities to ‘building bridges’ – connecting people to Jesus using whatever means necessary. Megan had two saw-horses set up in front of the class with a board laid across them. She climbed up on the board and laid across it, between the saw-horses, as if she was the board. Then, while lying there, she said reminded us that bridges are for driving on and walking on and when we put ourselves out there, desiring to connect people to Jesus, there will be times when we will be ‘walked on’. It just goes with the territory.
Megan shared a recent story where on her way home one night, she saw a young girl walking alone on the street. She decided to stop and offer her a ride. The girl was reluctant, but finally agreed. They introduced and made some brief conversation. As the girl was being dropped off at her apartment complex, Megan asked her if it was okay to have her phone number and she would like to call her in a few days to make sure she’s doing okay.
A few days later she did call and over time began a friendship. Over that period of time, Megan was asked for money, bought them cigarettes, brought them food, gave them rides all over town, etc. Finally, one day, Megan asked her friend if she would like to go to church? She said yes and asked if she could bring some friends. Megan ended up making three trips that Sunday morning to bring her friend, her friend’s family and a bunch of her neighbors to church. They filled an entire row of chairs!! But, it gets better. At the end of the service, during the altar call, every one of the family members and neighbors gave their lives to Jesus!!
This story reminded me that genuinely loving others can and often will be an inconvenience. And it can mean that at times I will be taken advantage of. If weeks prior to bringing them to church, Megan had decided that helping them, befriending them and accepting them as they were was too much of an inconvenience, she would have quit helping them and never had the opportunity to be the ‘bridge’ to connect them to Jesus.
They needed a ‘bridge over their troubled waters’ and Megan put herself in a position to be that bridge. Yes, she got walked on and taken advantage of, but looking back, she said that it was well worth the inconvenience and the sacrifice; seeing all these people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Way to go Megan for ‘loving out loud’!
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