The other day I met Emily. She is from Germany and was on vacation here in Byron Bay. She wanted to escape from her life because she was looking for something more so she decided to go on vacation to try and find “it”. She had spend a week in Byron Bay but this was her last day before leaving to a new city. She didn’t know why, but she decided to take one last walk around the town. As she walked down the street, she heard music. Emily is a musician, so naturally she was drawn to the sound that filled the air. As she approached us, she was intrigued and had many questions. God met her here. At first she asked if she could sing with us. We told her “Yes!”, But before we could start playing again she asked us why we were playing music. We proceeded to tell her about the World Race, about how Jesus changed our lives, and about how He calls us to tell everyone this Good News.
Emily wept.
Emily proceeded to tell us about how she grew up in church but had never experienced a Love like this. We started to show her that Jesus never called us to a building or religion, He calls us to Himself. That He is the only one who can lift the heavy burdens and show us how to carry a yoke that is easy. This visibly touched Emily.
We asked if we could pray for her, through the tears she said “yes”, and God started to take off all the burdens she was carrying. As she felt God’s love for the first time, she was so overwhelmed that she wept again. In this moment Emily encountered a very real and a very loving God. We continued to speak life over her and show her that God isn’t mad at her, He’s mad about her. Emily will never be the same.
Now the crazy thing about this story is that I almost missed this great thing that God wanted to do. I almost put my own comfort infront of God’s plan.
We arrived at the park around 10AM, and I knew that the Lord was calling me and a couple others to just play music. So we started playing music. Now Byron Bay has a big music scene, there are musicians everywhere playing laid back street music. So what did I start doing? I started playing laid back street music. Banana Pancakes, Swing Life Away, Blackbird, you get the idea. Then the Lord came and spoke to me.
“What are you doing?“
And I was like, “What do you mean? I’m playing music so people come and listen so we can talk to them.”
Then the Lord was lovingly firmer with me and said this, “I didn’t bring you to this park so you could look and sound like the culture around you, be a light.”
I most definitely responded with an “Oops!”
Then we started to just worship in the park. I felt like the Lord was preparing the atmosphere and shifting the things we cannot see. It still blows my mind how much I still let my flesh and blood get in the way of the principalities and powers that God wants to change, but I’m always thankful when He wakes me up to the reality of things. We worshiped for at least 45 minutes before we saw any fruit. No one stopped to listen. Not one.
Then Emily came along. She stopped and listened, the rest is history. Jesus prepared a time for the one, and I almost missed it.
1 Peter 3:15 says this “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”
The Lord showed me this that day with Emily:
If we need to be prepared to give an answer, our life needs to make people ask questions.
I’m sorry Lord for the moments I’ve chosen to be comfortable, to blend in, but I’m not staying there. I’m choosing to further be a light. A light with gentleness and respect. A light leads people to ask questions, not turn them away. I’m choosing a life that makes people ask questions, people just like Emily.
