So much of the World Race is finding balance. The beginning of the race you think, okay we have ministry five to six days a week and the luxury of incorporating adventure into the free moments as you choose. As your love for the Father grows deeper, a shift happens where the separation between ministry days and adventure days no longer exists. The goodness of the Lord is visible in every day and the opportunities to share that blessing with others presents itself without boundaries or labels as to what day it is.
These opportunities come exactly as the Lord see’s fit. My team decided to adventure to a nearby beach here in Patong, a first time experience for some of the girls. Here, we met Eugene, a young, stubborn, and bullheaded Russian man who speaks a decent amount of english. He initially approached Jordan with a bottle of wine, intrigued by her beauty. She told him briefly what we were doing in Thailand at which point he shared that he wasn’t fond of approaching others but that he had been drinking since this morning, giving him the courage to do so.
Shortly after their encounter, Eugene then approaches our group, introducing himself and asking quite a few questions about our travels. Conversation was somewhat sporadic as we communicated through the language barrier and tried to figure out exactly why he joined us. For being fearful of approaching others and voicing pretty boldly that he doesn’t like people, conversation eventually evolved into a deeper understanding of who Eugene is. Over multiple cigarettes and a bottle of wine in hand, he explained that he is a schizophrenic, introducing us to the five different voices or emotions you could say, that are within his mind. As we discussed the different characters and how they impact his life, he explained openly that he believes in evolution, which heavily influences his understanding of how his brain works.
We listened intently and at one point, Morgan said, “That’s awesome Eugene, can I tell you what we believe?”. His response to the idea of God’s creation was, “Oh, that’s such bull shit, there is no God!” many times over. We didn’t argue with him or try to convince him that our way of living life for Jesus was in any way better than his. We simply explained how we live our life in response to how he lives his. After a good hour or so of conversation, we had to leave. Before heading out, Erika our squad leader asked if we could pray for him. He didn’t hesitate much, and in a somewhat mocking form, got down on his knees and spread his arms wide. He said, “this is how it’s done right? Can I smoke my cigarette? Can I drink my wine?”. We told him absolutely, you can do whatever you’d like! With a surprised look on his face, he smiled smugly as we prayed over him.
I’d like to tell you that Eugene accepted the Lord into his life today. That we shared the gospel and his heart was softened to the richness of living your life for Christ. There isn’t always a perfect ending to the story. I can tell you that I learned something so beautiful on this day. Being a christian doesn’t mean that you have this duty to share the gospel everywhere you go and convince someone to believe similarly as you do. In some situations, we are placed in a moment just to listen, to show a stranger that we care about what they have to say. Being willing to spend time with someone with no expectancy of anything in return can often times be the biggest blessing.
As Christians, we are called to be holy and to live a life like-minded to Christ. The more your lifestyle reflects his goodness, the more you reveal him, and the more you reveal him, the more people can receive him. Often times, believer’s walk in judgment and conviction of how others live, pointing out their flaws. The approach to sharing God’s goodness is that of argument and an unnecessary urgency to convert their ways of thinking. We are called to be holy, not holier than thou. God loves me just as deeply as He loves Eugene.
Eugene didn’t need a group of Christian’s to sit and tell him to change his life and that their is a significant error in his beliefs. His heart was softened by the willingness of a group of people to sit and just spend some time with him, to allow him to be himself with no judgment or disregard for who he is and where we differ in the way we live our lives. Sometimes life as a believer is just being, allowing someone else to see the goodness of the Father in your heart simply through your words and actions. 
