A family from our area were contestants on the show Wife Swap a few weeks ago. I don't usually watch this show because, to be honest, it completely annoys me. The kids really wanted to watch the episode and I was a little curious myself so, we sat down with a bowl of popcorn and settled in for an evening of entertainment.

The woman from our area was a "little" different. She had tattoos all over her body (the large body art kind), multiple piercings, and a shaved head. Her and her family were atheists. Now, I am sure from her description you can imagine the family they swapped with. A very religious conservative family. This family also had some issues and I didn't agree with many of their philosophies. Both families had school aged children.

At one point during the show the "christian mom" wanted to punish the "atheist dad" for not complying with one of her rules. She took him to a shopping center, gave him a Bible, and told him to preach the gospel. Well, he stood on top of a planter, holding the Bible high, yelling that their was no God and a few other things, and then walks over to a trash can and throws the Bible in. You should have seen my kids faces when that happened! She also took the family to a local church where they were welcomed warmly. After the service the Dad said that it had not been a bad experience and if all church's had such nice people in them he might not mind attending one. This got me and the kids talking and we decided that we should pray for this family. We wanted the Christian community to embrace this family and tell them how much God loved them. I thought of this family a lot in the past weeks, something about them had just really touched my heart.

Early last week I had to make a trip to Sams Club before picking the older kids up at school. While standing in the checkout line I noticed the woman in front of me was buying a new study Bible. We began a conversation about Bible Study and the Church's we attended. She was very nice and we had a pleasant one or two minute conversation. When the conversation was over I turned around to start unloading my purchases onto the counter and had the shock of my life. Who do you think was standing right behind me? Yep, you guessed it. Their she was in all of her tattooed and pierced glory waiting to check out with her husband. My first thought was to run. After all, she had just heard my conversation with the woman in front of me about church and Bible study. I am sure that she nor her husband agreed with any part of our conversation and I was a little worried about what they might say to me.

Then IT happened. God started talking to me and it went something like this:

God: Julie, have you not been praying for this family?
Me: Yes.
God: Have you not been asking that Christians would reach out to this family and show them how much I
love them?
Me: Uhh Huh
God: I am answering your prayer. Do you think it was a coincidence that the woman in front of you was
buying a Bible and that you talked about Me for several minutes while this family listened.
Me: I guess not.

Well, I can go into all kinds of detail about the really really good arguments I was giving God as to why I was not the one he really wanted for this job. Wasn't I just a housewife standing in Sams Club with a very crabby three year old? Clearly their were better warriors to send into this battle. But alas, I realized he was sending me, and I decided to trust him and answer the call to duty.

I turned around, introduced myself, and told them I had seen their family on wife swap and had found it very interesting. We had a great conversation, they were very nice (her husband even unloaded my groceries). I was so thankful when it was over that I had not ignored God's call to be his servant.

I began thinking about this encounter again yesterday when I went and visited Laurel Wreath. She had posted a quote on her blog by Dr. Alvin Reid and asked others to write about their thoughts on the matter. Here is the quote;

You act more like a Christian by your influence on the lost, than the saved people you impress.

Labels: faith