My Daughter Builds Bridges for Evangelism
My two year old daughter is so full of energy that by the time bedtime hits (7:30 pm) I am ready to crumple into bed and pass out myself. She is a firecracker and literally runs at 110%. My wife and I lament the fact that it’s been cold because we like to let her get out and burn energy. Inside our house she is confined to smaller spaces with no outlet to release the furious fire fueling her frenzy.
She also loves getting out. She is like my wife in that she’s quite the extrovert. She typically doesn’t meet a stranger and most often I find myself having to corral her from being too friendly with strangers. She especially loves people around her age. She loves playing with them and the shyer kids look at her like, “What is wrong with this one? We’ve never even met before.”
Being introverted myself, it’s hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and just randomly strike up conversations with people. If I do it, I’ve had to really give myself a pep talk in my head. If I can just blurt out those first few words (which are the most nerve wracking) then I can typically calm down and keep going from there. Many times though, that opportunity slips by because I can’t talk myself into saying those first few words.
This is where my daughter comes in. When we are somewhere social, she’s ready to dive in. Her high energy paired with her ignoring of anyone’s personal space causes me to dive into conversations before I have time to think about them. It may be parents of other children talking to me first or it may be me apologizing that my kid won’t leave your kid alone. Either way, thanks to Charis, the hardest part for me is past before I ever had time to realize it started.
Charis builds bridges for evangelism. Several times at the park I’ve talked to parents I don’t know because of her. When the conversation starts to lull, it’s easy to then ask them if they go to church anywhere. If they don’t, it’s easy to further that conversation to talk about Jesus and my hope in Him.
Many times I would never let myself get in a position to start these conversations on my own, but my daughter starts them for me. The Lord uses her to help me follow Him. She builds the bridge; I just have to be willing to walk across. She does the hard work; I just have to be willing to finish it. I am so grateful for how the Lord has wired her—even at two years old.
As Charis grows, I am confident she won’t be one who has trouble starting conversations. I think she will be a people person and will continue to be a bridge builder on her own. My prayer is that the Lord will save her and I can disciple her in naturally talking to people about her hope in Jesus and their need for Him. Until that time, I hope she sees her daddy talking to many people about things that truly matter.
I am grateful for the way God made Charis. I am thankful for her ability to connect to people. What has God placed in your life to help you build bridges to the gospel?
