Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Passport (07/25/05)
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TITLE: Passport To Acceptance | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sarah Avila
07/28/05 -
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Along life’s journey there are many different seasons, I have found that some bring joy while others bring pain. No matter which way the wind takes me, there is one thing I must travel with at all times and that is my passport, which is Jesus Christ.
There is absolutely no reason to try for anything in life is you aren’t prayed up on the journey. I have found that this is also true when traveling through the world of acceptance. I am the first person to admit that when I speak to someone, I categorize them based on how they make me feel. When I am talking to someone that is optimistic and bubbly I am transported to a world of green clovers and red candy filled daisies where anything is possible! I create a spot on my passport automatically for them and I shall visit this place – person whenever possible….
However, what happens if God sends you to a place where the person you are speaking to is pessimistic, downcast, maybe needs more then you can give? You are automatically transported to a broken house with shattered windows, cobwebs, dust and smoke. Personally, I choose not to put those down as a place to visit again, but maybe it isn’t my decision. God will send us wherever he needs us to go, even to the ends of the earth.
I work at a Christian bookstore and the other day a little old lady with gray hair walks in. I stereotype her and walk over to see if I can help. She takes me to a place of complete offense, everything this women says to me if offensive! I just know she is off her rocker, but I continue to chat with her, helping her find what she needs. As I am checking her out I ask her where she goes to church. She sticks her nose in the air and informs me that she is not a member of any church; she goes wherever she feels like. She doesn’t like what she is buying because it costs too and that is the way it is….
We begin to talk about how easily people are offended and in a soft slow change I see her soften. We begin to have a heart-felt conversation that lasts half an hour. At the end of this conversation my judgment of her has completely changed. We begin to talk about the medical field and I tell her how fearful I am of doctors. I never go because they always tell me I weigh too much, I eat too much, and I exercise very little. By this time the owner of the bookstore comes in and joins our conversation. The owner and I are both bad mouthing doctors when I turn to this little woman and say, “what do you do for a living?”
She tells us with a giggle that she is a doctor who works right down the street. Suddenly I realize that in the blink of an eye this women was faced with an insult and chose to laugh instead. She had a change to break one of our windows, but instead she opened it with her smile and showed us a new view. Needless to say you can’t always judge a book by its cover.
How could it be that a women I turned my nose up to with my thoughts could become the embodiment of grace and acceptance. In the course of one hour God took me around my world and back again, allowing me to be ministered to by someone I had judged.
If you are facing your own passport and wondering why God is putting you around certain people, it could be that you are their passport to life. I challenge you to find your joy in life and spread it like wildfire to all the places you visit in your day. Pull down as many cobwebs and dust, fix as many windows in people’s lives as you can!
Although this idea may seem a bit daunting I promise the reward will be great when our final destination arrives. Become the great place to visit in your community! Challenge yourself to look at where someone is going instead of where they have been….
Sarah Jean
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