The Adventure

I had always thought of being saved as a final destination, not a starting point.
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Twelve hours after accepting God's gift of salvation and becoming a follower of Jesus, I found myself crammed into the backseat of a van with a half-dozen other teens. My stomach churned and I bit my nails nervously. I felt like I might puke.
What am I doing here? I wondered. I just became a Christian last night. I'm not ready to share his love with others.
Yet even as I worried my stomach into knots, Mike's words kept running through my mind. Mike was one of the youth ministers here at the week-long youth retreat I was attending. He was the one who had talked and prayed with me about what it meant to commit myself to the Lord. He was with me through the process of making Jesus my Lord and Savior. I remembered how, afterward, Mike had looked at me and smiled.
"Now the adventure begins," he said.
Before that moment, I had always thought of being saved as a final destination, not a starting point. But according to Mike, the Christian life is an adventure, one in which we continue to grow in Christ every day and help others along the way. That was what we were preparing to do now, and that was that had me scared out of my wits.

Talking to Strangers

The van pulled over to the side of the road, and everyone piled out excitedly. I tried to hang back, but my friend Jamie yanked me out by the arm. "Come on!" she exclaimed. "This'll be fun!"
I could think of many activities that would be more fun than walking up to complete strangers and trying to witness to them--having a root canal, for instance, sounded like a blast right about now--but I didn't say so. Instead I follow Jamie outside to where Mike and the other leaders were unloading three coolers full of soda pop.
The plan was for us to pass out the soda to people in their cars as they stopped at the intersection. Attached to each can was a card with a Bible verse and an explanation that, just like this soda, God's love is free to whoever accepts it.

Quiet and Introverted

Immediately all the outgoing teens--in other words, everyone but me--began loading up on cans of soda.
Jamie made her rounds happily, bouncing from car to car like a rubber ball. She chatted cheerfully with every driver, explaining what we were doing and why, and calling out " "God bless you!" as each vehicle drove away.
Across the road, two guys from our group were praying with a woman who had pulled off to the side. All around me people were working for the Lord, yet I couldn't bring myself to step off the curb.
"Come on, Chrissy!" Jamie tossed me a can of soda.
"What's with you, anyway? You were totally into yesterday's service project."
"Yesterday we were doing yard work for the elderly," I reminded her. "That doesn't involved talking to people."

This witnessing to strangers at traffic lights was not my thing.
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I had loved the previous day's project. Working up a sweat pulling weeds and trimming bushes was something I was perfectly comfortable with. After all, I had worked as a gardener pretty much since I was old enough to use a shovel. But I was a quiet person. This witnessing to strangers at traffic lights was not my thing.

Please, Someone Else!

As I stood frozen to the curb, I happened to look up the street and notice a small group of city workers filling in potholes. It was a terribly hot and muggy day, and I knew from experience how miserable it is to work outdoors in these conditions. I jogged over to where Mike was still passing out cans of soda.
"Someone should take a few cans to those workers over there," I suggested. "They have to be hot."
"Good idea," said Mike, and he began filling my arms with soda cans.
"Wait a second!" I protested. "I kind of meant someone else should do it!"
Mike raised his eyebrows. I felt a need to explain.
"I know I'm supposed to want to do this," I sighed.
"It's like you're always saying: when we're filled with God's love and grace, we should want to share it others. And I do want to, I really do. I want to grow in Jesus and share the news of salvation and take part in the adventure of following Christ. I'm just not outgoing enough for this kind of witnessing. I can't do it!"
I fell silent, bit my lip, and waited for my youth leader's to response. Yet when it came, it was a surprise.

Nothing on Our Own

"Of course you can't do it!" Mike exclaimed. "You've been trying to get through this by yourself, under your own power. The Christian adventure is not something you embark on alone."
I stared at Mike. He had lost me.

"Of course you can't do it! You've been trying to get through this by yourself."
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"Look at it this way," he went on. "You're a gardener, right?" I nodded. "Well, God is like a gardener. Once we accept his gift of salvation, he works in us like a gardener works with plants--watering, fertilizing, pruning. It's God working in us that allows us to grow as Christians. We can't do it on our own. And do you want to know something else?"
"What?"
"Once we let God work in our lives, nothing can stop his work--not setbacks, not other people, not even our own fears." Mike piled two more cans of soda on top of those already balanced in my arms. "So how about it? Do you know what to do?"
I smiled tentatively. I was still scared, but I no longer felt alone.
"Toss another one on top," I said. "There are six workers over there."

God, Work in Me

In the end, I had to call Jamie over to hep me carry all the soda. My heart pounded in my chest as I neared the workers at the end of the street.
"Dear God," I prayed silently," please work in me and help me grow. And give me courage to work on you."
The road workers looked up as Jamie and I approached. I put on my biggest smile and extended a can of cold root beer. "Would you like a soda?" I asked.
"It's free--just like God's gift of salvation!"
The workers smiled, accepted the soda. . . and the adventure continued.

-by Christina Dotson