40 by 40 – It Starts with One

I initiated the challenge, bought & marked the Bibles and set the ideal date. My husband plays basketball near a great park on Thursdays. Last Thursday I took the kids and recognized the opportunity. This Thursday I’d bring the kids and take the opportunity. My ambition was high in the days nearing my appointment. I told my daughter what I planned to do and practiced starting conversations with people I spotted as a pre-training. There were multiple possibilities I saw as we ate at a table at Sam’s or hung out at a store waiting for food, but I held off because my ideal time had not yet come.

The Countdown Clock

So Thursday comes and the tension starts to rise on the drive toward the park. By the time we arrive the confidence has started to falter, but I’m still set on the plan. I have my bag packed with Bibles and my follow-up cards printed, I just need to find the right person to talk to first.

I develop a profile. I’m looking for someone not on their phone & not too distracted by little kids. This park turns out to be the perfect setting to find someone to tak to with a new pavilion put in, the old pavilion where some people congretate, the splash pad is running, the volleyball courts, the basketball courts, and a 360 space decked with benches facing the park where kids play. I send my kids off to play and scope out who might fit my profile.

Scouting and Stalling

I see lots of parents looking at the splash pad, but some of them are together. I want my first person to be just one person. I pick out an older lady sitting off in the shade and mark her as a possibility. But that’s kind of weird, my kids are at the park, not the splash pad.

So who’s around the park? Most people are on their phones, but I spot a woman who may work, but she looks concerned so maybe not her. I walk the circumfrence and find another woman on a bench looks like a future possibility. There are a few more who I might consider.

I need to sit down and scope this out better. Get comfortable and see if anyone comes to me. “Lord please send someone to me.” A girl walks near but passes. Several volley ball people pass one by one. A teen with a basketball. One guy almost looks like he’ll sit near me but doesn’t. Another girl…”Oh Lord please send me someone. Please make this first person easy.” I see a lady walking like she might land near me. She doesn’t.

Hmm…I need to get back to scoping. I get up and move about. There’s now a guy on the far bench who looks pretty content; no phone either. The lady I had picked out before still has a phone but there’s a new friendly lady I see near her who doesn’t. That lady in fact points out that I dropped something—it was those cards I’d put in my waterbottle bag. Those aren’t supposed to be conversation starters, but closers.

I tell her thanks & I see another lady and her young kid head toward a bench in the sun. My daughter’s water bottle has been left by that bench so I sit next to it, but it’s too uncomfortable in the light and heat. I don’t stay long.

Another 360 to find a good spot. I land on a bench in the shade and again pray that someone will come. Many pass. No one sits. I see a man with a little toddler wandering around. Would he be good? An older dad pushing two girls on the swings. Maybe he’d be good. He’s stayed put for quite a while. A nice lady with two or three girls comes along and smiles.

Why is this so hard? Why was everything a possibility before but now everything isn’t just right? I notice the lady who’d had the phone on the bench looking worried no longer has her phone and people had come and sat by her. I determine if that person moves, I will go sit by her.

Eventually—after I’d shifted around and hemmed and hawed over the possibilities—this happens. So I go right as her kids come up to talk to her. I sit anyway but then she gets on her phone. So it’s me and her, but on another bench is a lady who keeps looking at volleyball. I could ask her if she knows someone playing or just enjoys watching.

I look at the time. It’s getting too late to be choosy now. My opportunity is almost up. A couple things happen in the game that she laughs at then she smiles at me so I dive in.

Getting Acquainted: Talk & Listen

It turns out she played volleyball in her old country and really enjoyed it but hasn’t played here. She’s lived here 10 years and hasn’t always spoken English. She’s from Nepal, met her husband there & came to Texas and loves it here. She has a daughter who will start kindergarden this year.

Ok so I can have a good conversation with a stranger, but this wasn’t my goal. This is just a means to my goal. Do I want to leave this conversation with satisfaction that I simply has a conversation? No. That wouldn’t be satisfying. That wouldn’t be the point.

She asks what kids I have and I tell her about my daughters. She says I look young & must work out. I tell her I just run as I realize that could have been my opening. I’m going on 40 and want to talk to 40 people about Jesus, but the conversation has already moved on. Oh no! It’s getting dark. Time is almost up. She gives her daughter a two-minute warning. That’s my warning.

Turning the Conversation: Talk about Jesus

“So, my 40th birthday is coming up & I determined that for my birthday I wanted to talk to 40 people about Jesus.” She nods. “So, can I talk to you about that?” She’s receptive and explains that she thinks faith is a good thing and isn’t about telling people not to talk about it. “So, can I ask you what you know about Jesus?” She knows he died for our sins. She’s seen videos & her sister is a believer who sent her materials. She prays to Jesus and all the gods each night.

Yes, I know. All the gods is not how Jesus wants it; though I’m not sure if correcting so quickly is the best way to point her to a clear understanding of Jesus. She says it’s commendable that I’m doing this goal and not a lot of people think about spiritual things and it’s important. I said, “Well, Jesus is really important to me, and if he is, I should share about him to others.” She told me this gave her goosebumps, and hopefully that’s meaningful, but my goal is not emotion. I know the truth…how can I convey it properly in these particularly circumstances?

How about with Jesus’s words himself. I ask her if she has a Bible. She said she had one, but lost it when she moved. I asked if she would like one and showed her a couple I had bought. She said she’d take whichever I’d be willing to give her so I handed her one and she grasped it and looked pleased to have it.

She said, “now I can have it as I pray every night and hopefully I will get better sleep. I haven’t been having good sleep at night.” I told her “It’s important to have because Jesus really did live and he really did die for us and those words in there are his message to us.” Then I asked if I could pray for her. I prayed gratitude for the opportunity to meet and visit with her and that she had this park to take her daughter to and that the Lord would please give her good rest as she reads and comes to understand him better through the Bible.

Reflecting on it

I’m very grateful that God helped me through that. Did he send someone? Not the way I’d asked, but hopefully the way he wanted. Do I have the nagging regrets over not having done one thing or another right? Oh yes!

• Should I have removed the price sticker from the Bible before giving it away? Initially I liked the idea of keeping it to show how easy it is to get more, but leaving it may make it seem that what I was giving was cheap when the Bible is worth much more than the price tag.
• Should I have given her tips on how to read it or showed her what Jesus said in there? Yeah probably. I should’ve at least tried, but I let the villian of “time” rob me of opportunity way too often
• Should I have offered to give her my phone number or email or told her I’d attend the nearby church with her? Yes. All the above.

But. I can’t fix the past & I know that having talked to her about Jesus with any of these shortcomings is better than not having done it at all.

Praying Forward

I’ll now be dedicating my prayers for her iin hopes that this discussion has planted a seed of interest for her which draws her toward reading the Bible and looking back at the materials she’s been given, reaching out. I hope God does things in her life to open her to know him better and that—as she said, ‘hopefully I see you again”—when I see her again we can talk more on all these things and pick up with a deeper conversation leading to more truths about Jesus.