20 seconds of Courage
When Sanderson walked out into the living room and told us we would be going to a neighborhood and doing evangelism, I got slightly nervous. I’m a natural introvert so being dropped off in a neighborhood for straight up evangelism was terrifying. We prayed for boldness and courage and away we went.
The goal was to evangelize on the street and help a local pastor (pastor Zulu) reach people in the area. Each of our groups had a member of his church with them to help with cultural differences, language at times, and to answer any questions about Pastor Zulu’s church. My team’s local buddy was Elijah. After breaking up into groups and being assigned an area, our group found ourselves in a small market area.
Almost right away, Elijah and a two of the other girls stopped and started talking to some younger guys. I kept walking down the road with two teammates. It wasn’t going so well for me and I was proving to be the worst missionary ever. Everyone was talking to someone and I was still anxious about the whole idea of what we were doing. Elijah decided we were going to go down another road and all 5 of us followed. Again, Elijah stopped fairly quickly to talk to a man walking by and Bryan and Tyler Rose stopped with him. I wandered to the end of the road and stood back into a corner in the wall. Two of the girls on my team (Rachel and Alicia) joined me.
The three of us started to share what was on our heart and I specifically said, I didn’t want to talk to men. We were near a bar and I just felt more comfortable with women. Ironically, the other two quickly agreed with me. We made up some excuse and decided we would just target women and kids.
What happened next was no accident or coincidence. Within 20 seconds or so of the three of us agreeing that we just wanted to talk to women two men came up to us near the corner in the wall we had found ourselves in.
One was older and getting off work, and the other was young (maybe 19-20) and had a bottle of beer in his hand. The first man was asking us where we were from, etc. The younger man asked if we were missionaries. We said yes. He then immediately put his bottle of beer down and said, “preach to me about Jesus Christ for 5 minutes.”
Wait…say what?!!??
It is safe to say the three of us were caught off guard. In that split second we had a choice, to back up who we said we were, or not. It was really that simple. A voice in my head just said to open my mouth.
I opened my mouth and words started to pour out. I’m not sure what I said or even how long I was talking. Basically word vomit. It was incredible though. This natural introvert became a fisher of men, because of the Holy Spirit took over and gave me the words to say. My friends jumped in as well and we were able to pray for these men. Elijah went on to get their contact information to hopefully get them connected in the church.
Later on, the three of us were of course laughing at ourselves and what had happened. It wasn’t chance or coincidence. It was God proving that he is good and he knows what he is doing. I was sharing how nervous and scared I was earlier in the day. God took that fear and made it something amazing. All he asked of me was to obey and trust him.
All he asked for was 20 seconds or so of courage.
I don’t want to live my life in fear. I want to be bold and courageous. I don’t want to play it safe in how I live or love. I want to be fearless. I want my life to be more than just a few seconds of courage. I want to have a lifetime of courage.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be Strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.
“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
-We Bought a Zoo
Kourt
