I've now been working in the same restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's, for over a year--13 months to be exact.  When I began, I only told my co-workers what I was doing outside of the restuarant if and when they asked, but even then I didn't make a big deal of "the faith" or try to proselytize anyone.  Some here might point fingers and criticize, saying, "You have to trust that the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to change their lives, so you should be allowing Him the opportunity to by preaching the gospel!"  Yes,I'm sure some would have come about it at a whole different angle, immediately trying to bust out the gospel to "those" people, but I figure they'll have enough opportunities here in the U.S. to hear it with out me saying a word.  Instead, to the best of my ability to God's faithfulness, I wanted to love them. 

You know, be concerned for their legitimate well being?  Do what I can to help, both at work and after?

A couple of times even, I went over to someone's house after work just to hang out.  I was even there when they *gasp* passed around a joint or two.  I can hear the critiques already:  "You call yourself a Christian.  A Christian wouldn't have just sat there while this was going on around them.  You should have left at worst, or at least made a stand against such debauchery!  If you loved them you'd try to save 'em, not condone their action."  No.  Both those responses would have been wrong.  No, not just wrong, perhaps even sinful. 

Anyway, God is working there.  Without me doing anything, really, except trying to be as faithful as I can to the living out of the gospel, in the last month, I've had three different people, completely on their own, come up to me wanting to know more about Christianity. 

But then yesterday happened.  The same Thursday night crew was on when enter a select group of people (4).  They were condecending towards their server; what I call the, "I own you since I'm paying for the food and service" attitude.  Fast forward an hour, time to settle accounts:  $60 tab, they leave $62 and a tract titled, "Are you ready for the Rapture?"  I was livid.  I could see the proverbial doors slamming shut all around me when the server came back into the kitchen telling everyone what just happened and showing them all the tract left behind.  After the server left the kitchen, while I was fuming, I turned to Jen (a server that trained ME back in the day) and said, "Damnit!  These people in one gesture about ruin everything that I'm trying to do!  Why don't they get it?!"  I swear, if American "Evangelical" Christianity doesn't need a good dose of Amos, I don't know what they need.  I about chased them down to say, "Do you realize that you've put in jeopardy a year's worth of work by what you just did?!?" 

And then I wake up this morning to the news report regarding Pat Robertson and his comments to a little town in Dover.  So help me God.

For a while, I often wondered why Jesus, when confronted with the question, "What must I do to have eternal life?" rarely mentioned himself or what he was going to do, or to believe in him.   Kind of odd, don't you think?  In short, Jesus rarely "shared the gospel" because he didn't have to.  He was living it out right in front of the people he loved.  God help us that those who bear the distinct name "Christian" would do the same more often.