I Dropped the Ball…

When we got to Australia this month, we had two days in Brisbane where we flew into for a mini-debrief to rest and recharge with our entire squad and hang out before moving onto our next ministry. The first night we were there, Hope, Kelly and I decided to take a train into the city and explore for a little while and see what all Australia had to offer. 

On our way back home, we were waiting for the train and Kelly decided to ask the girl next to us to take our picture. She agreed to take the picture and we started talking to her afterwards and telling her all about our trip. As we got on the train, she proceeded to tell us she was from the United States as well and went into why she was here with her family and so on. As she continued to talk, a lot of pain and hurt were starting to be revealed about her life and she was really spilling her guts to us and seizing the opportunity that someone was actually taking the time to listen to what she had to say. Her name was Kit and her parents were alcoholics who drug her around the world travelling for her dad’s job. She was unhappy and hated everything about Australia and her life. We asked her to tell us one thing she did like about Australia and she really could not give us an answer. She talked to us about a friend who was hurting because his family had just passed away also. During all of this talk, I was thinking as soon as we got off of the train and started walking, I would ask her if I could pray with her about her family and her friend. The more and more we sat there, the more and more I just wanted to hurry and get off of the train with her so we could pray for her and walk home with her as far as we could but as the train continued on, we realized she was not getting off at our stop and I hesitated on what to do. “Do I ask her if I can pray for her on the train or what?” I kind of froze up on what to actually do in the moment and then, it was time for our stop. We got up to open the door to get off and Kelly pushed the button three different times on her side and I pushed the button once on my side and nothing happened at all. The door never opened and we missed our stop. We sat back down and continued talking to her and I even thought to myself “Ok God, I get it, I screwed up” but I still just sat there paralyzed on what to do and then, we got off the train. And people say God doesn’t have a sense of humor.  He actually gave me a second chance and another try to get right what He was clearly telling me to do and I still just sat there.

I just needed to drop the ball that one time to be able to say that opportunity would never pass me by again. I am very thankful for Kit and her story. She was pretty much screaming, “Hey you missionaries, please pray for me and love on me. Do your job why don’t ya?” and we just sat there. It was definitely a life’s lesson worth learning. God used one person to help mobilize three people who needed it and in mobilizing those three people, she will have also helped lots of other people in our future. I pray for Kit everyday and I trust that God will send someone else to plant that seed in her. We still did God’s work that day in loving on her and just listening to her but when you can hear Him tell you to go further and you don’t, you have definitely dropped the ball.  I pray that you can use this story and you are able to learn from it without having to drop the ball later on yourself. The key is to gain enough boldness to the point when you hear His voice that you don’t second guess it or try to figure out the best way to go about what He is telling you to do. Don’t just stand on the edge of the cliff and try to find something to hang onto until you are truly ready to fall. When you hear Him, trust it, let go and fall back into His arms. He will already being using the Holy Spirit through you to speak to the person, you just have to open your mouth and let the words come out so, just don’t stop and look over the edge and hesitate. Take a running leap of faith and just jump off the second you hear His voice, I mean what do you really have to lose with God anyways?