Christianity isn't comfortable

I don't recall anyone ever telling me that Christianity was comfortable.  However, when I was approached by a homeless person, last summer, on the SMU campus, they asked me to pray with them and I got scared and I ran.  It was probably one of the worst decisions that I have ever made in my life.  Looking back, I wish that I had taken the time to pray with them.  Sometimes I remember back to that day and ask God to be with them.  It is the only justice I can do now.  I can only ask for God to provide them with an additional opportunity of having someone pray for them. 

When I think about all of the human interactions that Jesus had with people, I am amazed at how He measured each situation, not based on the complexity, but based on love.  When John the Baptist was murdered, Jesus went away to grieve alone.  The multitudes followed him, and he had compassion on them, healing their diseases and providing nourishment for their body (Matthew 14). 

Paul, of all people, knew that Christianity was uncomfortable.  " ²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11)

So when I received a call the other day to travel to another church and meet a new Christian sister who needed help in getting acquainted at her local congregation, I turned it down.  You would have thought that I had learned my lesson by now!  Fortunately, I was able to recall the last mistake I made and so I made a quick decision to do the "uncomfortable thing" and meet her and become her friend and help her get to know others at the church.  Now, we are really good friends! 

I think that when our heart is in the right place, even when it may be uncomfortable for us, the Lord finds ways in which to show us his blessings!  What have YOU experienced in the area of "uncomfortable Christianity?"

Random Acts of Prayerfulness

I believe in the power of prayer.  As a matter of fact, I believe in the power of prayer so strongly that in 1999 I started what I called “random acts of prayerfulness” where I find random people throughout my day to pray for: people that I know, people that I do not know, people who I get a glimpse of as I am driving down the highway, people that I see as I am checking out in the grocery store, people in the schools, people on buses, planes, working on construction sites, people coming out of the funeral homes, banks, post offices, churches, high rise offices, people on the scene of an accident, people living their lives in this world who in general just need a random act of PRAYER! 

It all started when my friend Emily and I were sitting on the school bus heading to a football game and heard a siren go off.  Emily said, “someone got hurt we need to pray!” I said, “what do you mean?”  She said, “well, everytime I hear an ambulance siren I pray for whoever the person is  that is in trouble.”  I took those very words to heart on that day and from that idea combined with the idea of random acts of kindness came the idea of random acts of prayerfulness!  Try it sometime!  You will find that not only will you be blessing someone that you do not know but you will also feel blessed by being able to lift that person up!!!!!!  For example, I will tell you about a day not too long ago, where I was able to perform three random acts of prayerfulness in the span of a very short amount of time:

1.    I prayed for a man who was on the opposite end of a phone conversation today.  His boss was talking with him about his professional driving and reporting to him that two people had complained about his driving and had called the number.  I prayed for him to be careful and I also prayed for the boss to realize that anyone on the road at any given time can call that number line.  I prayed that when the two met that they would be able to work out a good plan.

2.    I prayed for a man in our apartment complex who walks with a cane.  It is hard to walk around our apartment complex and it seems like there is always an obstacle so I prayed for his safety as I saw him leaving the apartment to get into his car this afternoon.

3.    I prayed for a man and his wife as I saw him writing an incident report for his car.  It looked like he had been in a really bad accident. 

Now that you have a few examples try it.  It will seem awkward at first but don’t let that stop you.  God is willing to listen if you are willing to talk!!!!!!