YOUR CIRCLES

How many people pass in and out of your life every day?  Every week?  Most of the time you barely see them -- the waitress who brings you your coffee; the dry cleaner who hands you your starched shirts; the woman at the ticket counter on the last trip you took.  These are people who are just outside your circle of relationships.  They are countless individuals who rub up against your life in some small way and then are gone.  What can you do to bring Jesus to them?  Well ... you could be Jesus to them.  It doesn't take long.  You can be Jesus to them in about 2 nano-seconds.  It doesn't take long to smile or to say thank you with gusto or to tell them they are doing a good job.  People come in and out of our lives all the time.  Often we are too busy to see them, much less make a difference in their lives.

We were rushing through the airport in Helsinki trying to get to Riga.  There were sixteen of us on the mission trip.  Our flight from JFK to Finland had been delayed so when we arrived in Helsinki we were informed of what we already knew:  we missed our connection.  It would take an extra four hours to get there.  We were tired and disappointed but our leaders had forged in our brains through several hours of orientation meetings the need to be flexible.  We even had a sign for it (index finger extended in a loose fashion and then nodding up and down ... flexibility) -- a silent reminder for those who might forget ... flexibility is king on a mission trip.  So we made our way to a special ticket counter for those who needed to be rescheduled.  The lady at the counter had waited on several of our folks before she got to me.  When I approached her with a tired smile, slid my paperwork to her, and asked her how her day was going, she looked up at me with and incredulous look and asked, "Who are you people?"

Her sole job is to issue new tickets to those who have  missed their connection. Bless her heart. Our team members who had gone before me were equally kind to her and she was a little confused.  Apparently, she is not accustomed to customers who are happy.  I had the chance to tell her who we were and why we were there.  She smiled and thanked me for being so understanding with the situation. I gave her a big, "No problem," and an even bigger, "God bless you."  I'll never see that lady again.  She is one of the faceless masses that have come into and out of my life.  But, with the help of the missions team, I was able to speak gospel into her life.  It didn't take long.

We made her job a little easier that day.  You may think that is a small thing, but Jesus said that it's the small things that make the biggest  difference ... like the faith of a mustard seed ... the small things can move mountains.  Slow down ... look at the people that God brings into your life (I mean really look at them) ... and find a way to be Jesus to them.  It doesn't take long ... and it lasts an eternity.
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