She was 19 years old, a slender young girl who was our server in a Texas-style restaurant in Sydney, Australia. She introduced herself as Amanda, and proceeded to take our initial orders for tea, soft drinks, etc. I will never forget her introduction, "Hi, I am Amanda and I am your server tonight. I am 19 years old, and I am pregnant"! But we were deep in our discussion about how to do the best training possible for the pastors who had gathered in Sydney for the training conference, so none of us caught the plea that lay underneath Amanda's rather unusual greeting.
But God is persistent and patient with us, especially when He is wanting for us to catch His Father's gaze upon one of those He treasures, so when Amanda returned a couple of us came out of the fog of our "important discussions about changing the world" to ask her a few questions about her life. And Amanda opened up, right there at our table. Amanda was single, working hard and very frightened about her pregnancy. She was choosing to have this child, rejecting the easy way out, but she was afraid. And at the end of the meal we were able to touch her, reassure her and promise to pray for her. To this day, I am convinced that Father was wanting to do more, but at that time I had no real grid for what was happening.
The next day during the training I told Amanda's story to the group of gathered pastors and asked those in Sydney to pray about following up on her. To his credit, one man did indeed attempt to contact her at the restaurant, but he ended up leaving a tract and contact information without connecting. I grieve over that, but at that point I would have done the same thing. Today, I know that I am to listen to God and persist with someone until the connection bears whatever fruit Father intends.
Why do I tell this story? First, because I have never forgotten Amanda. No, I don't pray for her all the time, and I don't even remember what she looked like. But I remember Amanda and looking back I recognize now how Father's gaze was so clearly fixed on her. And I ask Him to please keep me so fixed on His face that I won't miss His affectionate gaze upon the next "Amanda" to cross my path. And the second reason I tell this story is because I am struck by the irony of how a group of us could be talking about the Kingdom while missing the Kingdom's activity right in front of us. No condemnation here--just a reminder to live so tender, so surrendered that we cannot help but catch the Father's gaze.
Just pondering...
Tom, one of Abba's little children
2 comments:
Great post. We should always have our eyes open to the fields. These opportunites remind me of who I'm working for. I can take no credit for an opportunity like that. Thanks
So true. Sometimes we get so caught up in talking about what we need to do that we forget to do what we are talking about!
Thankyou so much for your Simple Church reflections which continually encourage and inspire me.
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