“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”” Mt. 10:32-33
I called a beloved friend one morning to check on her visit to the emergency room the night before only to discover she was in the back of an ambulance being transported from one hospital in early morning rush hour traffic to another hospital. She took my call though she let me know she was busy in the back of that ambulance. If you think I’m about to tell you how the emergency medical technician was in the back of the ambulance with her helping her with her medical needs and offering her compassion and comforting words, you will be sorely mistaken. My friend was busy alright, but not in the way one might have expected. I should have known, and wasn’t in the least surprised though entirely inspired by what my friend told me.
See, my friend was in the back of the ambulance talking to the technician about the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, but the night before in the emergency room she hadn’t wanted to bother the medical staff to tell them how severe her need for help was because she was concerned about the injured kids in the waiting room whom she felt should be a higher priority. When she was admitted into the second hospital, she quickly made it her business to start talking to the staff and her hospital room roommate about the Lord.
One might have thought given her illness and the fact she had not been feeling well for some weeks that she would have plopped down onto that hospital bed in her hospital gown and finally gotten the rest she undoubtedly needed, but in her own estimate it seemed she was on a mission for the Lord. Testifying of His awesomeness and proclaiming Him to those who would hear and happily engaging in conversation about Him when she was blessed with the opportunity. When I gave her a Bible to keep by her side and offered her some Gospel tracts, she jumped at the opportunity to be able to hand them out as the Spirit of God might lead her.
Thinking of my friend in all this reminded me of how far I have yet to go when it comes to setting my focus on the Lord instead of on myself and learning to love others in His name, in denying self and picking up my little cross and following the Spirit of God as He leads me forth in being busy about my Father in heaven’s business.
My friend in the ambulance testimony is a wonderful reminder that my life belongs to Christ, and that the Lord ever gives me opportunities regardless of where I am to proclaim Him to the world all around.
And you?