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Mission Possible

by Amanda Beattie

It had been a long, tiring day... and it was only 3:00 in the afternoon. I had showed up at church at 9:00 AM to participate in our youth group fundraiser. It was fun, but a tremendous amount of work in hot, humid, Oklahoma weather. I hadn't been outside even an hour when the heat made me regret wearing my navy blue T-shirt with my youth group logo on it. After the fundraiser, when everything was over and cleaned up, my brother and I decided to walk across the street to a nearby fast food place. A milkshake was definitely sounding good to me.

We Interrupt This Program...

My brother and I were standing in line to order, enjoying the air conditioning and trying to figure out what we were going to get to drink. A man came up behind us and tapped me on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he asked. "Do you guys go to church?"

"Yes, we do," I responded, trying to sound cheery despite my exhaustion. Meanwhile, I was thinking, How did he know? And then I remembered... our youth group T-shirts. I began to wonder why he asked. Perhaps he was going to try and witness to us. Maybe he was just an enthusiastic Christian and wanted to encourage us. Or -- and this thought worried me -- what if he hated Christians and was going to pick a fight?

However, I failed to guess what he was really going to say next. "Would you please pray for me?"

...to Bring You a Special Opportunity

At first, I was boggled by what had just happened. All I was doing was minding my own business, trying to get something cold to drink, not even THINKING about ministry, and some total stranger walked up and asked my brother and me to pray for him. But even as I struggled to understand it all, my response came almost automatically. "We sure will. What do you want prayer for?"

He shared with us how he had been wrestling with depression. He spoke to us pretty openly, but still cast some nervous glances around the room. "Only the Lord can help me," he said.

I was just about to assure him that we would remember to pray for him later, but I stopped. Why wait? "Do you mind if we pray for you right now?"

He took half a step backward and looked at us dubiously, but agreed. My brother and I proceeded to pray for him...right there, in line for a milkshake. Even now, as I think about the incident, I can't help but marvel at how odd it sounds. But it was real, and it was incredible -- I believe that God did a work in that man's heart that day.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It...

Isn't it funny how God doesn't have to work according to our schedules or plans? For instance, if I would have planned that situation, I would have seen the man in the back of my church, sitting by himself, obviously distressed. I would have approached him and asked him what was wrong, and offered to pray for him. It would have made for a lovely story. But God had other ideas.

God had that man seek my brother and me out when we were least expecting it. We couldn't put up any kind of false, important-looking facade, because we didn't know it was coming. And the Lord had already been working on this gentleman to the point where he didn't need to be chased down for prayer -- he went asking for it. He knew he needed God; in fact, he told me that he needed Him. Everything happened in public, in front of many other people. There were no pretenses here; the world could see the hand of God in action.

So often, we give God a limited time that we're willing to work for Him. "Okay, Lord, you can have Sunday, but the rest of the week is mine." But ministry is not just what happens in church or through church. Ministry is not just a mission trip, work at the soup kitchen, or a neighborhood outreach. Ministry is LIFE. Everyone around you -- people you pass in the hallway at school, folks you bump into on the street, the cashier at the supermarket -- they are your mission field. And sometimes, God calls on us at unexpected times to reach out to an unexpected person.

It would have been so easy to tell the man, "Yeah, sure, I'll pray for you sometime," and then go order my milkshake like nothing had happened. It would have been especially easy to be so bewildered by it all that I put it out of my mind as some freaky thing that happened to me at that burger place. It could have been really tempting to make an excuse about why I couldn't pray for him right then, but that's not what God wanted. God was asking my brother and me to swallow our pride, to set aside what we were doing, and to reach out to a hurting person who He wanted to touch.

God wants us to shine in the world for Him; but it's a full-time job. Perhaps the next time He calls on you it won't be especially convenient. You never know when you'll cross paths with someone who needs to hear what God has given you to say. But no matter whom God tells you to reach out to, no matter when or where He gives you that opportunity, the results will be good. You can always trust His decisions -- all you have to do is be ready when He says, "It's time."

Life Applications:

Have you ever felt God leading you to reach out to someone?
What are some mission fields He has already put you in?
Are you willing to follow Him when He calls on you?

Copyright 2003 by Amanda Beattie
All rights reserved.