Though I have done 30in30 many times before, I had always followed my golden (fear of man) rule - don't give tracts to people I will see again. This included people that caught the same train or bus, people I regularly go to to get food or coffee, colleagues, shop keepers of my favourite stores. Shameful I know.
Last year I recognised I had a problem but didn't really do anything about it. This year I was determined to make sure I did something about this bad habit.
I think it was about here (marked on the map) during my journey home from Perth Underground Train Station on Friday that I overcame my paralysing fear of man and broke my golden 30in30 rule. despite some moments of hesitation, I reached into my handbag to grab a tract and gave it to this man sitting next to me.
I gave it to him fully knowing I could see him again someday cos he caught the same train home as me. This was BIG for this wussy serial tract-and-runner.
Thoughts raced through my head such as 'what if I see him again - it'll be awkward!' 'he doesn't look like he'd be interested' 'can't I just give him the tract when he leaves?'... But I knew God wanted me to at least try talk to him so I gave him the tract saying 'this is for you, it's a gospel tract'.
He then looked at it for a while, turned it round and read the address of our church. 'Ullapool road... where is that? I think that may have been the church I got married in'
We talked more and it turns out it wasn't the same church, but he then went on to say 'the problem with this is that I am an engineer and I believe in logic, so I won't be able to believe in God'. We talked a bit more about that and then he had to get off the train because he had arrived at his stop. We parted with him saying 'we could talk about this for hours, but I need to get off here'. He handed the tract back to me and I told him it was OK and that he could keep it and read it properly later. He thanked me and popped it into his pocket
I kinda regretted not starting the conversation sooner cos I ran out of time, but at the same time, I was happy that I overcame my fear of man and that I didn't just wuss out with another tract-and-run. I think God was gracious enough to even give me a pleasant experience too.
Maybe someday I will see him on the train again and we can continue our conversation. Instead of dreading this day, I'm kinda looking forward to it!
Last year I recognised I had a problem but didn't really do anything about it. This year I was determined to make sure I did something about this bad habit.
I think it was about here (marked on the map) during my journey home from Perth Underground Train Station on Friday that I overcame my paralysing fear of man and broke my golden 30in30 rule. despite some moments of hesitation, I reached into my handbag to grab a tract and gave it to this man sitting next to me.
I gave it to him fully knowing I could see him again someday cos he caught the same train home as me. This was BIG for this wussy serial tract-and-runner.
Thoughts raced through my head such as 'what if I see him again - it'll be awkward!' 'he doesn't look like he'd be interested' 'can't I just give him the tract when he leaves?'... But I knew God wanted me to at least try talk to him so I gave him the tract saying 'this is for you, it's a gospel tract'.
He then looked at it for a while, turned it round and read the address of our church. 'Ullapool road... where is that? I think that may have been the church I got married in'
We talked more and it turns out it wasn't the same church, but he then went on to say 'the problem with this is that I am an engineer and I believe in logic, so I won't be able to believe in God'. We talked a bit more about that and then he had to get off the train because he had arrived at his stop. We parted with him saying 'we could talk about this for hours, but I need to get off here'. He handed the tract back to me and I told him it was OK and that he could keep it and read it properly later. He thanked me and popped it into his pocket
I kinda regretted not starting the conversation sooner cos I ran out of time, but at the same time, I was happy that I overcame my fear of man and that I didn't just wuss out with another tract-and-run. I think God was gracious enough to even give me a pleasant experience too.
Maybe someday I will see him on the train again and we can continue our conversation. Instead of dreading this day, I'm kinda looking forward to it!
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