evangelism

yay!!! I'm finally done with my report after dragging my feet for weeks. I can't believe how much time one can waste on random stuff (hehe...like blogging?) which can be put into so much better use - for example, just talking with family and friends about the most important thing in our lives...sharing about God's love for all of us. It seems such a natural thing that we should and want to share the good news with everyone else but what's stopping us? No time, no confidence...?
But if I would want to share my fruitcake or cookies or other goodies with my friends, why wouldn't I want to share the greatest news in the universe with them? There's nothing else in life if it wasn't for God's love and the hope of spending eternity with Him...sometimes, it's just so overwhelming to try to grasp the importance of this.
Just want to share this short story that I heard in church last Sunday:
There was this really devout Buddhist living in Hong Kong who suffered all her life in poverty and wondered what was the meaning in life as she tried to raise her son single-handedly. She would go to the temple daily to pray but she could never find the inner peace she was looking for. One day, she was pulled into church when she was passing by. She listened as the congregation worshiped, as the pastor preached his sermon and at the end, when there was an altar call, she responded to it by opening her heart to Jesus. That night, she felt the inner joy and peace she had been looking for all her life as she received His forgiveness and His lordship over her life...and to become known as a child of God.
The next day, bursting with happiness, she rushed upstairs to her neighbour's as she proclaimed that she had become a Christian by God's grace and wanted to share this good news with her neighbour too. However, her neighbour looked at her and said in a quiet voice, "I have been a Christian for more than 10 years."
She was shocked..."Why didn't you tell me earlier then?"

This story is really a good reminder to me because there are so many times when so many opportunities to share are placed in front of me yet I shrink away from them. Though I might feel compelled to reveal God's love to them through my actions, my attitude to life but ultimately, they can't replace the words that people need to hear. I believe that God has placed us, as His ambassadors, around people who matter to Him and we might be the only Christians that they might ever be in close contact with. Just as it's our privilege to be God's children, it's our honour to be God's agent too =)
In Luke 15:10, Jesus says "there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents"...imagine being part of that heavenly symphony =D