A few day ago my youngest son, Andrew, told me about a kid in his class that is so desperate for friends that he brought $100 in $20 bills and began handing them out to other kids to be his friend. I asked my son if he took it, he said no and that all the money was retrieved, the Dad was called and given the money. But I asked Andrew why couldn't he just be the kids friend and he said, "Well, I tried but all he does is walk around the playground. He won't play anything." So I said, "Maybe you could just walk with him. Then once he sees you're willing to just do that and really be his friend, then maybe he'll play." Andrew replied, "Yeah, I don't have to play all the time. I could just walk with him."
The thing is, that's all people want. They want you to walk with them. As The Church it isn't our job to wait for people to come to us, nor is it our job to drag people to where we want them or think they should be. People want us to walk with them and we have to be willing to go to where they are and just be with them. Once they see that our agenda involves no other item then to love them, then they will trust that we actually love and care about them. We are called to bring Christ and be Christ to them. Jesus told us to seek out the lost sheep and bring them home, but he wasn't saying to just make sure they made it through the church doors. He also told us to care for and feed His sheep and that must be done where they're at. If people don't recognize His voice, they won't follow Him. It's our job to introduce Him to them, where they are at, so they begin to recognize and find comfort in His voice. Then, and only then, will they follow us to the foot of His throne. If we know the way, we HAVE to share it with others and that can only be done through loving them to Christ. As Christ walks with us, so we should walk with them. They just want you to walk with them. Will you?
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