While at Whole Foods the other day, I had to overcome some fears and I had to do it quickly.
As my cashier Jaime was loading my groceries into the bag, I asked him how the crowds had been with the Thanksgiving rush… He said they weren’t too bad.
I told him I shop at Whole Foods on special occasions. My husband was in seminary and our budget was tight.
“What’s seminary?” he asked.
Trying to think of a simple answer to what seemed like a complicated question, I said:
“Well, it’s a school where you learn more about the Bible and eventually become a pastor or something like that. My husband wants to help teach others the Bible… It’s a non-denominational, Christian, evangelical school.”
“Oh okay,” he replied.
I could tell the people behind me were anxious to get their groceries on the belt, but I had another question for him and those people were annoying me so I just blurted out:
“Do you have a church background at all?” I said extremely fast.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Did you grow up in the church at all?”
“Well, my family is Roman Catholic and I grew up in that but I’m not into the whole ceremonial stuff. You know…”
“Yeah I understand… Well, the church my husband and I go to is more about a relationship with God than it is about religion. It’s laid back and it really doesn’t look like a church at all. You wouldn’t think it was one.”
“Where’s it located?”
“It’s a big building off 635 and 75. We’re still in the building phase actually.”
He said he thought he’d seen it before from the interstate.
“I think you’d really like it!” I added.
He stopped and looked at me.
“Well I’ll promise you this- I’ll go and check it out sometime.”
I was shocked. Really? You would? I thought.
I smiled, said that would be awesome, and wished him a great Thanksgiving.
As I left that day, I was ecstatic that God used that 2 minute window for me to talk to Jaime. I often get this knot in my stomach before starting up a spiritual conversation. Even though Jesus is the most important person in my life who I want to proclaim to the world every day that I live, I still have fears. I still struggle with getting past “me” and other insecurities.
But I’m learning that the greatest way to overcome that fear is to dive in wholeheartedly, no matter the risk.
To lovingly engage people in conversation.
To live on mission.
To get past the distractions so that God can receive glory, even during the holiday madness.
I pray that Jaime will remember our talk and check out Watermark so he can learn what it means to have a relationship with God.
I hope you’ll pray with me too. In the mean time, I’ll be checking up on him the next time I need a treat!
