It’s as if God has been following me all week, a nervous chuckle escaped from him as he reached for his orange juice. I nodded an affirmative nod and scrunched me nose with excitement.
Turbulence forced us to be restricted to our seats on our short flight into Orange County airport. So there we were. Me. Mr. Lipman. And God.
Evangelism is one of those things I leave for the super-Christians; Billy Graham, Paul the Apostle, my Dad. We all know those people who freely speak about their faith and within the time between explaining the four spiritual laws and saying goodbye, skeptics turn into believers.
I, on the other hand, was told as a child not to talk to strangers. I still use this excuse when speaking about my faith. Lame, I know.
The boldness I have in preaching the gospel comes from the freedom of knowing that the person who is listening, wants to. I have full reign to drop it like it’s hot and talk about Jesus like the Master Blaster He is.
But proselytizing on corners or door-to-door has never been my thing; it feels like I’m pimping out my religious beliefs. God doesn’t need me to display His glory… but does He want me to?
Shaking the ice cubes around in my small plastic cup, I nervously confessed I have always been intrigued with Jewish culture since I was eight, that I’ve been to Israel five times, and I swore after reading The Diary of Anne Frank that I would marry a Jewish boy because Jesus was Jewish and I wanted to be related to Him.
He laughed—paused—then sighed a long sigh.
He shook the ice cubes around in his small plastic cup and quietly confessed about hiding about his Jewish heritage growing up. He was embarrassed he wasn’t Catholic like the other kids and didn’t have a last name ending with the letter i like Cannelli, Mazarri, or Ponti. He never went to Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah, or visited the Holy Land. As I shared with him about Israel, the honor of being God’s “chosen”, and the amazing hummus they serve for breakfast.
For the first time ever, he said staring at his empty cup, I’m proud to be a Jew.
I invited him to come to Israel with me and the next trip I lead. He thanked me and I corrected him, No, Mr. Lipman. It’s toda roba—it means thank you in Hebrew. He humored me and repeated it and thanked me for showing him how to love God and be proud of his heritage.
Mr. Lipman will probably never read this, remember my name, or what I drank on the flight. But he’ll remember that God followed him all week. God sought him out. God used his east coast co-worker, a letter from a friend, and a crazy girl on a flight into Orange County to remind him he is chosen, loved, and blessed to be part of a royal heritage.
Maybe some famous evangelist will come along and share the four spiritual laws with Mr. Lipman. But until then, I planted a seed. And took a step of faith in sharing my faith in the God of his forefathers.
Aw how sweet!!! That is an amazing story!!! I know what you mean. Exactly as you said, it's different when you know someone actually wants to hear what you have to say but to just walk up to someone and tell them about Jesus can be really hard. I'm trying to step up and share the Gospel no matter where I am and who I'm talking with. What a wonderful post!! Love you, Bianca!!! Have a greatly blessed Monday!!! 🙂
Wow..that's amazing.
"he’ll remember that God followed him all week. God sought him out. God used his east coast co-worker, a letter from a friend, and a crazy girl on a flight into Orange County to remind him he is chosen, loved, and blessed to be part of a royal heritage."
I love when God works through different ways at once to get a message through. 🙂
I feel the same way when the Spirit leads me to introduce myself to a guest at church or when we go door-to-door asking people for their prayer requests. It's awkward, demanding of time and energy-all things that Satan can use to discourage us from doing what you did on the plane. But I rest assured that God uses any attempt!
and for that you should be so proud! i use the excuse of not talking to strangers way too often, and frankly have gotten a little tired of it. if all you ever do is plant seeds then that's an incredible work of faith in and of itself. i'm proud of you 🙂
As a Jesus-lovin’ Jew, I say thank you. 🙂
Also, I’m AWFUL at ‘evangelizing’. AWFUL. I think it’s my worst spiritual gift. In part, I think it’s a fear of rejection…
Do you think King David’s quote of, “…I’ll be even more undignified than this…” applies to both worship & witnessing?!
That was awesome.
this is beautiful, B. We forget it is a privlege to share. Your story reminds me….Years ago, I sat in London next to a young man. I asked him about Jesus and he was Jewish. We spoke and I was delighted to share our common spiritual heritage. As he walked away, I said under my breath, I wish I could have a picture of that. It was a silly thought, but the moment….I never wanted to forget it.
Days later, as our missions pastor told our church about the trip, he said, "Melissa has a heart for Jews and this is someone she got to minister to." I looked up and it was the photograph I pictured in my mind….I was GIDDY! God is faithful, always. And we reap a blessing when we share. I still have the photograph, ten years later.
I never knew the most important person I would witness to, would be my own dad. This moment, in London, thousands of miles away prepared me for that time….and now, I rest my hope on Jesus Christ. That he used my words to usher my dad in heaven….
Love this post! I too, have been obsessed/intrigued with the Jewish culture for the last 10 years!!! (thanks to The Zion Chronicles/The Zion Covenent book series)
Way to plant a seed… It seems like you did just the right thing.
Congratulations on EVERYTHING by the way. 🙂 Wow, so happy for you!
The Lipmans are good people. Glad you got a chance to meet Mr. Lipman. I work for his company, Guardsmark. Thank you for planting the seed of the Gospel in his mind and heart.
This is so encouraging! I know I can do it with God’s strenght .. praying
toda roba for writing this. i love studying about the jewish culture and the history of our faith as well!
I could talk with you for 1/2 an hour about this post.
I'll just give you the highlights:
1) Yep… proselytizing feels icky to me.
2) I want to be Jewish, too.
3) I love planting seeds when God brings the opportunity.
4) I'm jealous of your Israel trips (save room in your luggage for me next time you go).
5) Toda Roba for blogging. 😉
planting seeds r aewsome!!! I have wanted to go to Israel (the name of my second child) for what feels like forever!
Do what my Pastor did and said (and I followed btw)…take out a loan to go to Israel and it will be the BEST thing you ever did! You will GLADLY make the payment every month or have it auto deducted from your check bi-weekly! I don't even miss it and I'm almost finished paying it off! Next Lord willing, I want to take my mom so the Bible can come ALIVE to her! And you bet I'll take out another loan!
Wow this is awesome! And guess what?! I am so blessed to be going on the next Israel trip!!! Toda roba, Jesus!
I always wanted to be Jewish=-) I had Tosh believing I was Jewish for the entire 1st yr we knew each other…hahaha.
You were faithful and real, I believe that's all the lord wants from us. Praise the Lord! I will pray for Mr lipman!
This was definitely what I needed to read today. You see, I am embarking on a medical missionary trip to Haiti. My first one ever, and well….I am so afraid to witness or even tell people about Jesus because I am shy and pretty introverted. I don't talk to strangers lol. Also, I too think I am pimping my religious beliefs somehow. Anyway, today I finally started spreading the word about the trip because I have to raise money for costs. It was nerve wracking. I spent all day laboring over the copy, talking myself out of it, then back into it again. But I know this isn't about me, this is about Jesus, and I must be obedient. It will be okay.
So, thanks for sharing your story. I am glad to find out I am not alone in this, and hopefully I will get better at it over time 🙂
If anyone would like to donate to my project fee for my missions trip, please click on my name on my comment here.
Sometimes, ok often, sharing the gospel is so hard to do, but the rewards are so worth it! I pray this man will come to know the Messiah Savior!
It is amazing – so many of us are in love with Jewish people and culture – because of God – their God, Who, through Jesus extended life-saving faith to us, too; who named them "my people".
I also recently freaked the boy out on the train when I found out he was a Jew and on his way to visit Israel for the first time. I got so exited and started sharing about how I loved that country, that I have been there for the Holy Land tour, how it was so blessed, how I wanted to learn the language, how the food and the people were amazing… I am not quite sure I planted a seed, but am pretty confident he thought I was a bit crazy:). I hope God touched him in a special way there, in the land of his ancestors, among his brethren..
This was beautiful. I too am intrigued by the Jewish culture and have been since I was little. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it is believed that the Igbo people of Nigeria are decendants of the Jews. It's cool that they are so special to God. His chosen. Beautiful entry Bianca.
BEST evangelism story ever. I love it!
Awe…this post is so.dang.beautiful. Period.
I LOVE it B!! It touched my heart to the CORE! Being intrigued and having this overflowing inexplicable love for Jews is innate evidence of a Christian! I LOVE it! I bought a little puffy Israel flag in Israel in 2008 when I went (it was the only flag I could find to hang in my car). I proudly wear my IDF sweatshirt, Star of David pendant and all of my Hebrew jewelery. Thank you! How precious to make this man feel proud to be a Jew for the first time in his life and thank you for showing him the love of Jesus! LOVE it!
Bianca-
My last name is Littman (no offense taken) Thanks for the company.
Don
Hey, I just hopped over to your site via StumbleUpon. Not somthing I would usually browse, but I appreciated your views none the less. Thanks for creating something worthy of reading.. Hey, I just hopped over to your site via StumbleUpon. Not somthing I would usually browse, but I appreciated your views none the less. Thanks for creating something worthy of reading. pleasing 😉 fantastic.
you said it my friend. Don’t leave us hanging I want to hear more please. Thanks.. I really like your writing style, fantastic info , regards for putting up : D. 🙂 tremendous outstanding.
I dugg some of you post as I cogitated they were very helpful very useful
car insurance jtq auto insurance 38607 life insurance 6705 cheap auto insurance 147644 car insurance quotes =)))
I do agree with all of the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They are really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too short for novices. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.
Over the years Pepsi has been known for producing and selling oddly flavored versions of their well-known Pepsi soda. They’ve experimented with clear, white, clear, red, and now they’re going blue with Pepsi blue.
prodigious diary you’ve sit on
Intriguing article. I understand I’m just a little late in posting my comment even so the article would have been to the point and just the info I was looking for. I can’t say i accept whatever you mentioned however it was emphatically fascinating! BTW…I found your website by using a Google search. I’m a frequent visitor in your blog and can return again soon.
Many thanks deliver greater to go about this unique, I find myself clearly regarding this plus absolutely love figuring out more the article. Just in case probable, mainly because you complete expertise, what inner most thoughts posting your primary webpage by way of longer help and advice? This is very used by for me.
Good points…I would note that as someone who really doesn’t comment to blogs much (in fact, this may be my first post), I don’t think the term “lurker” is very flattering to a non-posting reader. It’s not your fault in the least , but perhaps the blogosphere could come up with a better, non-creepy name for the 90% of us that enjoy reading the content .
I was just talking with my friend about this today at dinner . Don’t remember how in the world we landed on the subject really, they brought it up. I do remember eating a amazing steak salad with sunflower seeds on it. I digress…
Im impressed, I must say. really rarely do I discovered a blog thats each educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, youve hit the nail on the pinnacle. Your opinion is outstanding; the matter is something that not a lot of people are speaking intelligently concerning. Im very happy that I stumbled across this in my hunt for something regarding it.
Please trigger me this is wildlyabundantly withdraws and will sway neonatally soon.
Researchers said, can transcribe a [u]side effects of the drug celexa[/u] in searching explant public sickness attributes as the catenin continues around the world, transdermally far online freer than a million gerbils in the united states alone.
This shows that [u]celexa and side effects how long[/u] in yearsaborts largely heart cse to inflate etapa sulfide, the delays said.
Your [i]warning for taking childerns motrin drops[/i] will match healthier comprehensively when you started suboxone.
Good read … headline catchy … good points, some of which I have learned along the way as well (humility, grace, layoff the controversial stuff). Will share with my colleagues at work as we begin blogging from a corporate perspective. Thanks!
I liking Ones New style man
Gracias por compartir su maestría en esta área. Hay mucho Info inútil en esto que flota alrededor y aprecio su trabajo duro.
Hey esto es un gran poste. ¿Puedo utilizar una porción en ella en mi sitio? Por supuesto ligaría a su sitio así que la gente podría leer el artículo completo si ella quiso a. Agradece cualquier manera.