“Nobody wants that, bro.”

Whether you are part of some faith-based group or not, I’m sure you’ve seen, received, or even passed out some form of literature to people about a particular group’s faith/beliefs. Whenever I am at a church event and people talk about doing literature outreach that day, I sort of cower. Umm yeah, I gotta go do that other thing now…sorry bye.

I don’t like passing out anything like that to people. I don’t like going door to door. I don’t like leaving handouts on people’s cars. It’s awkward, it’s a little bit scary and unpredictable, and to be quite frank, I’m a little bit of a weenie.

Okay, a lot a bit of a weenie.

I get all nervous even thinking about it now!

So when I heard someone’s brief story the other day about how someone told him to put his literature away because “nobody wants that,” I was trapped in that experience for a good while after we had moved on in the discussion.

I’m afraid of passing out anything, because I’m afraid of those types of responses. What would I do if someone said that to me? What would I do if they actually got angry and aggressive?

Would I recant? Apologize? Smile?

I get scared to even talk about my faith with my own family or friends sometimes, let alone strangers!

Whaaaat am I doiiiing with my liifeeee 😥

Ha ha. Seriously, though. I need to toughen up.

Whenever I have passed out anything, I’ve gotten pretty mild responses, some even very good responses, which always surprises me because I’m expecting WWIII. But I’m just waiting for that ugly experience that’s lurking around the corner, that person who’s going to tell me to “put that stuff away, nobody here wants that.”

I went out to pass out some tracts once, and one girl’s face I’ll never forget. One of my team members had reached out to give her something, and as she waved it away, she had such a disgusted look on her face, I thought she had taken a whiff something gross. My team member moved on, but I couldn’t get that look out of my mind. If someone did that to me, I’d probably start tearing up like the big sensitive baby I am and call it quits. Nope, no more, no thanks, I’m done.

These people don’t want what I have to offer.

You know, if I kept thinking like that, I’d never reach anyone. Isn’t the point of gaining some good knowledge or good news to share it?

I don’t just gain knowledge to hoard it for myself. I gain it to share—it’s a duty of mine.

To shove down people’s throats, definitely not. To make them feel bad or dumb for not believing in and agreeing with what I believe, definitely not. There’s a thing called tact, people. And even more than that, there’s a thing called love. Anything I ever do, I want it to be out of love. I’m not here to force anything on anyone (unless it’s forcing my husband to let me name our future children the names I want…lol, kidding 😉 )

But I am here to share what I know.

I just need to stop being so afraid.

One thing I admire about fanatics is their ability to disengage from criticism. They are so firm on what they believe, nothing shakes them. I don’t want to ever be a fanatic, but I do want that boldness, to stand up for what I believe no matter what people think, say, or do to me.

In terms of my own faith, I know lots of people who think I’m crazy, who think science trumps God, who think choosing to believe in God is choosing to be stupid.

If I had as much gusto in sharing the love of God as they do in disproving God, I’d be one unstoppable evangelist.

And hey, that’s actually a pretty good goal worth striving toward 😉

To unashamed boldness,