I was leaving for Lake Havasu on Tuesday 7/21/09 for a few days to see some new prospects. I had two appointments set up for that afternoon, so I needed to leave early in the morning. I was late getting out of Phoenix and even missed the exit off of I-17 that would take me to Lake Havasu. This added an extra hour to my trip.
When I arrived at the motel I misjudged the U-turn I was making and hit the curb hard. When I looked at the tire I saw a gaping hole in it and what looked like a dent to the wheel. My first thought was about the expense of replacing the wheel, as I thought I could change the flat tire and continue on to my appointment. When I opened the trunk to get the spare and the jack, I couldn't find the jack handle.
I went inside the motel and asked the person if he had a jack handle that I could borrow. As he was getting it I went back to the car to remove the spare and found it to be flat. Fortunately I have AAA, so I called them. They told me they would tow me to a tire place, and it would be about an hour wait. At this point I realized that I was not going to get to the two afternoon appointments I had, and became even more frustrated! That’s when I started to pray, and asked the Lord what was it that I was to learn from this experience? I was asking, Why Me? I was very frustrated and loosing my JOY!
The tow truck arrived and he said that I could sit in the cab while waiting for my car to be lifted onto the back of the truck. The guy from the motel came to the truck and offered me a bottle of water. As I opened the door I thought how thoughtful of him and it reminded me of what I'm called to be like, (James 1:2-3), so I thanked him and then gave him a million dollar bill and told him to read the back.
Then it hit me that the Lord was using me to do His work and that the work that I had in mind was to be postponed. My demeaner changed as now I realized that I now would be witnessing to people that I would not have normally met. So, besides giving out million dollar tracts to the driver and a few of the workers at the tire store, I was able to share with a woman and her two sons who were waiting in the store, like me. This time I was able to spend more time about the message on the back and afterward the mom thanked me for sharing with her.
The next day I met with my new client from a few months ago to go over her new plan. I had given her a million dollar bill when we first met a month ago and explained how I used it to share with others. She thanked me for sharing as she said she was also a Christian. I then gave her another one and asked her to give it to the next person she runs into.
When I finished explaining the benefits of her new plan I told her what happened to me when I arrived in town, and how the Lord used me to share with strangers. She immediately asked that I not be offended and would I take back the million dollar bills because she was not the outgoing type. I then asked her how outgoing does someone have to be to offer a million dollar bill to someone who had just been kind enough to offer you a bottle of water?
At that point she became quiet and did not respond. Her trying to justify herself for not sharing now didn't make sense. I then asked her if she understood what Jesus Christ went through on the Cross? His punishment was brutal, severe, and painful. He did all that so that we would have a chance to be reconciled with God. Now that I belong to Him, how could I NOT hand someone a Gospel Tract who may not know what it means to be "Born Again". How selfish is that!
After a few more verses on what Christ commands of those He calls His own; (Mark 16:15), (Acts 1:8) She now started to understand that it’s not about our personality or whether we are outgoing or not, but our obedience to the One who saved us. At this point I offered her a few more million dollar bills and asked if she would like to give it a try? She said she would and thanked me for sharing with her.
I guess by confronting her about her false belief, which seems in our culture today to be something horrific to do, the Lord opened her heart to see what a blessing it is to openly share with others.
As I was leaving she walked me to the door and stated, “The reason she bought the plan from me was because she trusted me.”
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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