Creating Opportunities

By Virginia Smith

I collect Christian tee shirts. Some of them have catchy phrases like, “Know Jesus Know Peace—No Jesus No Peace.” One has a big smiley face with the caption “Psalm 92:4.” And one of my favorites displays those universally recognized letters, “WWJD.”

I was wearing that shirt on the London tube during a trip with my mother. We had remarked earlier that everyone in London seemed to wear nothing but black, especially the young people. So I stood out in my white tee shirt with those letters embroidered in shiny gold thread across my chest. In fact, one black-clad young man wearing more jewelry on his face than I had packed for my entire vacation caught me in a direct gaze across the aisle and nodded at my shirt.

“You one of those religious nuts?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

He scowled, clearly not believing me. “Then what’s with the shirt?”

His question opened the door for me to tell him that I don’t believe in religion, but I believe in Jesus. My faith is not about the rules and regulations that make up a religion. Instead it’s about a relationship with a real person.

As we talked, his scowl faded, replaced with a thoughtful expression. The train came to a stop at our station, and we stood to exit. But before we left, that man told me, “I’ve never heard anybody say it that way. I’m going to think about what you said.”

When we got off the train my mother and I stopped right in the tube station and prayed that God would water the seeds He planted during that conversation. And I thanked Him that He could use something as seemingly innocent as a tee shirt to create an opportunity to tell someone about Him.

PRAYER: Lord, create an opportunity for me today, and give me the wisdom to make the most of it.

“Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ,” Colossians 4:3 KJV.

Today’s devotion is by Virginia Smith, the author of over a dozen novels including Stuck in the Middle, which was a finalist for the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award. To celebrate the release of her newest book, Third Time’s a Charm, Ginny is hosting an awesome Prize Bonanza Giveaway on her website. Learn more at www.VirginiaSmith.org.