Day 24 - Witnessing Daily - Getting to Know Gregory

Traveling through Samaria, Jesus stopped at Jacob's well to rest. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said, "Will you give me a drink?" The woman said, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water (John 4:7-10)." In his brief encounter with the woman, Jesus set a powerful example of how to capitalize on a witnessing opportunity: Relate. Create. Convict. Reveal.

Let's look at the Relate phase. Jesus began to relate to the woman. He asked her a simple question. Small talk. No doubt He asked her in a warm and friendly way, because it clearly surprised her. He could have ignored her. We often ignore people. That's usually our natural tendency. But Jesus was on a mission wherever He went. He came to seek and save the lost. He's personal. He's intimate. He cares. And because He cares, He goes out of His way to capitalize on opportunities to reveal Himself to people who need Him.

Do you take time to relate to people with a mission, Jesus' mission? My natural tendency is to shy away from doing that, but I pray for grace to live purposefully and on Jesus' mission. Sometimes I feel it more than others. Jesus was tired when He got to the well. He was thirsty. He could have made all kinds of excuses for just resting and taking it easy and avoiding the possibility of getting into a "religious" debate or being totally laughed to scorn, mocked, or rejected by this lady. But He took the risk. Her eternal fate was at stake and it was worth the risk.

We took the family down to our neighborhood pool tonight. I really didn't feel like attempting to relate to any of the strangers there that I haven't met yet. So, I prayed for grace and an opportunity. After some swimming, I went over to the concession stand to talk to the young man working there. Started to relate. His name is Gregory. He's 18 years old. He's new there. He will be working throughout the holiday weekend. We had a warm and friendly conversation getting to know each other a bit. We'll be back at the pool a lot over the next few days and the summer.

Next steps in following Jesus in my new relationship with Gregory: Create--create an opportunity to turn the conversation from the natural (could you please get me a drink) to the spiritual (would you like to know where you can get living water?).