As I write this my new friend is on a phone call. A flip phone that is about to die as he tries to get ahold of his wife. The coffee shop was pretty packed on this Friday. I think Fridays have become the day that many decide to work from a coffee shop. My normal is working from a coffee shop. With limited options for seating I looked around, and I saw the seat I wanted. Let me explain, there are days I walk in and I want to be in the corner so I will get less distracted by humans. I love humans. I love talking to them. I love learning from them. I love making them feel seen. I love caring for them. So for the corner to look appealing means I have a lot to do. I still see them all and I ask Holy Spirit what does today look like. I desire to be yielded at any moment. So today I came in and I knew exactly where I felt to sit. I took my spot next to a man that had a regular cup of joe and lots of “sugar in the raw” spilled everywhere. He didn’t seem like a regular so I was intrigued to say hello. I politely asked him if I could sit at the table next to him and was greeted with a smile that was full of kindness and an “of course young lady” that everyone could hear in the shop. I could feel the eyes looking towards us trying to figure out if we knew each other or if we were just “those” people. You know the kind, the ones that don’t meet a stranger. You know them and you have probably rolled your eyes at them as well as sat back astounded by how they can hold a conversation with a stranger for so long and make it sounds like two family members talking! What they may or may not know is that I did meet my family. I meet my brother in the Lord. Grant is from Ohio but has lived in Atlanta for a very long time. He knows this city way better than the mayor I am sure. Don’t quote me on that, I don’t know the Mayor. After my talk with Grant, I realized that He knows this city because He walks this city to get around and he calls the city his actual house. He recently got a key to a place to live. He and his wife. I can’t even imagine the joy that rushed over him being able to have a home with his wife. Grant instantly started telling me about himself. He shared his story with me and the ups and downs of a life without Christ and the joy of walking with Christ even when life is hard. He kept asking me to share but I must be honest I was tripping over words. I just wanted to be present with him and let him share. I shared here and there but honestly, I kept asking him questions. The more I would ask questions the more that I just felt the Lord in his words. I won’t lie when I sat down I thought maybe I was going to be the light to this man, and I am sure in some way I was. I could tell just to talk to me was a gift from the Father to Him. He was a pouring fountain of reminders to me. He was the mouthpiece I needed. It wasn’t like He told me what to do with my life. Truthfully, that isn’t what I needed. He just talked about Jesus and how Jesus has changed his life. To see this man start weeping over his savior, moved me. It shook me. It made me think “Shay, does it still move you? Does my Gospel move you?” He didn’t sit here and ask me what I believe. He didn’t try to wrap it in some words that seemed politically correct. He didn’t say “God” so that it was less abrasive in case I wasn’t a Christ-follower. This made me look deeper. “Do I at times shy away in some form with people to make them feel comfortable and then approach my beliefs when I feel like I have figured it out.”
Grant hasn’t shared anything that someone with a master’s degree would pass out over but I would put money that it would have moved you to hear him share about his love for Jesus. I don’t ever want to get to the place that the way I share interrupts my heart for Jesus. He didn’t speak with eloquent words. He didn’t speak as if he has some theological degree. He didn’t share like he took classes to learn how to communicate. I am not against any of these things. I would spur anyone on to grow as they feel lead! I would say on the other side of that not to wait around for all the right words and right moments to leap out and share.
It was a beautiful moment to recall the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1 – “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.”
I dare you to have a Grant moment. Don’t look for eloquent words or the perfect moment to talk to someone and then when they ask you about your life, share! Share who you used to be and who you are now! I am convinced that as the Body of Christ would just have moments like Grant did with me, we would see a shift in the Kingdom spiritually and in the natural. Don’t get so busy just believing for it that you can’t see it right in front of you. Heaven is here in us and yet we are on the lookout for Heaven around us. It is both and even more than I could ever talk about. But I urge you as brothers and sisters to not shrink back in these days but to rise up and just share with kindness and conviction of Whom has changed your life! Grant is what I would call not just a believer but a disciple of Christ.
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