I was having one of those days when I just needed to get out of the house. I was having a pretty bunk Labor Day weekend and decided some dessert from Buzz in Alexandria would be preferable to sitting around in my room in a funk. Although talking to strangers is one of my greatest joys in life (I say that strangers are just friends who don't know they're my friends yet), that day I was in no mood to socialize. I brought along my journal and Leanne Payne's book on healing prayer called "The Healing Presence." I sat down in the sun, and eyed a table outside with an umbrella. I set my internal sunburn clock and read, while stalking the guy at the shade table.
I was reading about how we are to look upward to find our identity in who God says we are. I realized I had not heard much affirmation of who I was and was desperate for God to reaffirm that. I asked God to show me who I am and then spotted that the shade (but not shady) table was free. It was right next to a man with a dog. He was a bit wild looking with camo shorts and an army green tank. He was around 60 and his hair was rather unkempt and thinning. He had, what I evaluated to be, a pit bull and bull dog mix.
You see I have this gift of figuring out dog breeds and people breeds. I have an eye for remembering what someone or something looks like and I can tell when they are similar to others. I am pretty good with accents as well. But I didn't want to talk to the man. I wanted to sit and feel better about myself.
But he was so nice and his dog was right there. He was feeding it part of a croissant and was letting some other people feed it. It was like she was begging me to identify her breed. So I caved and asked the man if she was a pit bull and bulldog mix. He looked shocked and said, "Why yes, she is! Nobody has ever guessed that! How did you know the bulldog?" I told him I walked a friend's bulldog while I was studying for the Bar.
A conversation ensued and the man was very open about his life as a retired New York police officer. He gave me openings to "witness" to him that Evangelicals with any amount of evangelism training would've jumped right on, such as "You know I would consider myself an agnostic, but I feel like something's missing. I tried church before." I had my Bible there with me, but I didn't crack it open, nor did I tell him about Jesus.
(I can hear a gasp from some faithful witnessers now...) I just waited. I told the man a bit about my book on healing prayer when he asked what I was reading and told him how I began the journey of healing in my own life. But no John 3:16. I just waited. Then I asked him, "What would you want from God if He could give you anything?" and the man said, "Peace. I have never really felt at peace."
I thought to myself, "Well that is certainly easy enough." and I asked the man if I could pray for him. He said sure and I asked him if I could put my hand on his shoulder. He said sure. So I just prayed for him and asked Father God to show His love for the man. I asked Him to make Himself known to him. I started saying how God had already been working in the man's life based on things he had told me. The man looked up at me and said, "Wow, there was this amazing energy coming from you! I have never felt anything like that before! I felt at peace for the first time."
THAT'S when I said- "That was God you felt. That was the love of God by His Holy Spirit and you come to know it through Jesus." The man was so touched he asked if he could pray for me. Yes, the agnostic man asked to pray for me. He prayed the same way I prayed for him, "Father God, please show Liz how much you love her. Show her how special and beautiful she is..." and he prayed all the beautiful things about myself that I needed to hear. Like who I really am. Like that I matter to people. So God used an agnostic man to speak His love and affirmation over me.
I happened to have some Scripture on a card that I was using for a bookmark so I gave it to the man and told him how he can look up the Bible on BibleGateway. I also told him how to ask God to speak to him and explained how to hear God's voice.
I went away going, "Man that was easy. I barely did anything. I wasn't even having a good day. I just asked God to show up and He did. God did all the work." As I told that story to friends I started saying it was lazy evangelism. Lazy in the sense that I didn't memorize an apologetic strategy or Bible verses to walk him through the steps of repentance and receiving Christ. I just asked God to show up. And He did. What's better than God Himself giving the man what he always wanted?
I can't top that. And I decided that's the way I'm gonna go from then on!
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