My son is likely an evangelist. No, I'm not talkin' Benny Hinn!! Nor, am I necessarily talking Billy Graham. Rather, he is a simple, precious, truth-telling faith sharer. K-Dog does NOT shy away from telling people about Jesus! Frankly, his boldness freaks me out and challenges me in the same breath. More often than not his encounters leave me questioning my heart and motivating me to spread His love throughout my world! The Dog talks to homeless veterans about Jesus. He talks to his friends about Jesus. He talks to MY friends about Jesus. Shoot, he talks to perfect strangers about Jesus! The following is one of those times:
Picture this, Silver Dollar City, sweltering heat, a never-ending line in hopes of sweet relief by way of the Lost River of the Ozarks. You will have to take your items with you. You will wait in line for an hour. You will get wet. Really? UGH...okay, after all it's for the kids.
So, we start our wait. And about 10 minutes into our wait, K-man strikes up a conversation with a little boy. He's a precious little Indian boy. They are both pumped to find out that they are the same height AND the same age. (This is very rare for K-Man as he is, um, he is, vertically challenged) The boy's father, mother and much older sister are all watching this unfold. The whole family is BEAUTIFUL, all of them. Their skin is flawless and lovely. Their hair is thick and rich, all a shade of some sort of strong coffee.
The mom is wearing a Sari of every shade of pink and gold. Her daughter, stunningly flawless, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt translates the happenings of the moment. Both ladies have the traditional bindi on their forehead and both share an obvious affection for little Situ, the boy in line. Shoot, all of us share in the joy of these two precious fellas, these two scalawags who have formed an instant bond in an eternal line.
Even the father, resigned at first, cannot help but be delighted by K-man and Situ. The man breaks from his stoic stance to joke with the boys about getting soaked on the water ride to come. The conversation ranges from the rides they have been on that morning, to holes in the side of the fence, to pizza and everything in between.
Ken and I turn around and start to chat whileK-man and Situ linger over a spider web. In that moment, K-man looks at the little boy and in his shootin' the breeze fashion, K-man says, "So, do you know Jesus Christ? You know? Son of God? Died on the cross for our sins? Jesus?" He spreads his arms out like Jesus did on the cross and looks at the boy with big, questioning eyes. The lil' fella says, "What?" The Dog continues, "Jesus. He loves you, he died on the cross for you. You know, your Savior, Jesus?" The boy quietly says, "Um, I think I have heard about Him..."
The thing I find interesting is MY reaction. At first, I almost pulled him away and politely changed the subject. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit stopped me!! But, I just sort of awkwardly turn around and talk quietly to Ken hoping not to interrupt the Power of the moment.
K-Man continues, "Well, you should now that He will NEVER, EVER send a flood to cover the earth. Every time you see a rainbow, you should be reminded of that promise." (Earlier that day, Table Rock Lake was going to release the Dam for controlled flooding purposes. KJ was kinda worried that they were flooding things on purpose which could totally mess with God's plan! We had just been explaining to him that there would be flooding. But, there would NEVER be another flood like the flood of Noah that covered the whole earth.) Situ just listened as K-man went on about how Jesus loved him and died for him. All the while, I just stood face forward praying the Holy Spirit would bless this boy and his family. WOW! WOW! My little soon to be 9-year-old son was completely sharing the gospel in the boldest, simplest way possible. Then in one single second, the conversation switched back to pepperoni pizza and it was done. The two of them bantered again about all things boy. The adults looked at each other and parted ways, each to our own round, river ride.
Yes, we did wait an hour, we did carry our stuff with us and we did get wet. And amidst all of that, a sweet, Jesus-loving boy could not hold onto the secrets that spilled over in his heart. He could not stop himself from sharing with this little boy. He thought this little boy was too neat NOT to know his deepest, coolest, most amazing things on his heart and he just had to tell him for fear he would burst!
As we exited the ride, I looked at my boy and said, "WOW, son you are so bold! I love how you told that little boy about Jesus. You are braver than mommy. Do you know that?" He looked at me and said, "Mom, you are like Jonah before and I am like Jonah after." Ouch. Um, uh, um, yeah...
I said, "Hmmm...you know what, you are exactly right! Thank you for being an example to me, son. I am proud of you and I love how you have such a desire to share about God's love." To which he humbly replied, "Mom, I had to tell him about Jesus, you know why? Because he didn't know about Him." I got goose bumps to the roots of my hair. I said, "How do you know he didn't know Jesus?" He said, "I don't know, I just knew. Somehow, I just knew." Somehow, indeed.
So, my challenge to myself is to try to be like Jonah AFTER...you know after the running away, after the being swallowed by a whale, after the obeying God part.
Yeah, that K-man, er I mean, Jonah.
