courageous

Michael and I went and saw the movie "Courageous" tonight and I was blown away!  I love that it tackled the issue of fatherhood and the importance of a father in a child's life.  I highly recommend it, yes there are a few cheesy moments but the script is great, the acting is good, the cinematography is good and the message is awesome!

You know we are all called to be courageous not just men, not just fathers.  I was thinking about courage on the drive home and what it means, and what it looks like.  Courage is defined as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. (www.dictionary.com) For me courage was today, asking our waiter if I could share my 30 second testimony...as homework for class.  For some that may not sound like a big deal but to me actually opening my mouth and sharing or really asking if I could share was a huge step of faith for me.  I knew I had to so I could have my assignment done for class but more than that I knew I had to in order to break off fear of sharing the gospel.  Its such a funny thing, I talk to people all day everyday, interrupting their day to see if I can help them.  And in those moments, I have no fear.  The words simply come out of my mouth, I don't even have to think about them.  I think back to my first day though...and that was the case.  I was scared out of my mind to ask partly because I knew I wouldn't actually be able to answer the question, but more so because it was such a foreign concept for me.  Now 3 and half years later, I walk into work and the moment I am clocked in till I clock out I am talking and answering questions.  

Right now, sharing the gospel, sharing God's truth to people is like my first day at work.  I am so scared to just open my mouth and start talking.  Its funny because in Texas everyone talks to everyone no matter where you are or what you are doing.  Its such a natural thing to do yet, I my mouth losses all functionality when I go to share Jesus with someone.  So today, when I asked our waiter I felt a piece of that fear get chipped away and I have faith and hope that one day, sharing how God has changed my life will become second nature and I won't even have to think about what I am doing but I will just start doing it.  


I got a picture of community as I was just writing.  Today at lunch, I wasn't alone, I had my husband sitting next to me and two amazing friends across from me.  They I know where praying for and cheering my on on the inside.  You know, its really hard to have courage when you are alone.  Knowing that I had back up pushed me forward, pushed me share, pushed me to be courageous.  "For I did not give you a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and a sound mind"  2 Timothy 1:7

just thoughts...

Even though it is late, and I have to get up ridiculously early I still had the desire to just hear my fingers moving on the keys of my keyboard.  Have you ever had that desire?  Every time I watch "You Got Mail" I come away with this immense desire to type and create something.  Tonight, I was talking to the lady who is a writer/editor.  Every time I meet someone who writes my husband always says, "Oh, Amy is a writer too."  And then I get the question, "Oh...what do you write?"  I stare like a deer in headlights having no idea how to respond to that question.  So I stammer and fidget and blurt out something along the lines of, "Umm...you know, I'm not a "writer" actually, I have a style like you know, ummm Donald Miller...umm I write blogs..."  And whoever it is stares nods their heads politely and say, "Oh, that's cool..."  Then awkward silence...staring around and me longing to be anywhere then in that moment. 

What makes someone a "writer"?  Is it a paycheck, people knowing who you are and reading your stuff, is it being published?  Sure, its all of those things but is it more than that? 

Did you know that if you are rude to worker at a store the likely hood that moments after your rudeness they are conversing with at least one of his or her fellow co-workers about you is about oh 100%?  Yes you are probably walking away in frustration but they are laughing about the ridiculousness of your frustration :)  Laughing is the only way to make it through each day working in retail.  Its highly frustrating and stressful, but when you have great co-workers that you can talk to it makes the day so much better.  You know what I love, is when someone gets so excited over me helping her find what she was looking for...I have actually had someone hug me because I found her the shorts she needed.  I also love when people apologize when they know they are being overly obnoxious or tell me I am doing a great job.  I am a firm believer that everyone should have to work in a restaurant and in retail at least once in their lives because until you do...you just don't understand that when its busy your food is going to take longer.  You just don't understand that we seriously don't have control over what is in stock and whats not and if we don't have...well we are really sorry but we don't have and there is NOTHING we can do about except say, we are sorry.  I know everyone has their own opinions on this subject but you know sometimes I wish employees had a survey they could fill out about the people that shop at the store and those they encountered.  We could rave about the awesome mom who apologized for her child spilling her drink but helped clean it up.  We could thank the kind old man who always jokes with you when you see him and his wife walking laps.  Seriously I see this cute old couple at least once a week and when I ask if they need anything he more times than not says, "How about I do your work and you can walk for me."  Or we could say to the person that comes in on Saturday night furious that we don't have something in stock that has been on sale all week, "Its Saturday...its been on sale since Sunday...its not our fault when you came into the store."  You know, I'm not really a mean person and I don't really care to share all of the negative things that people do and say to me and my fellow workers.  Because even though it could fill up ten thousand pages and we could laugh a little the honest truth is, some of those things would make you cry and cringe that a human being would be that way to another human being. 

So this is my challenge to all of you (all two of you that actually read my blog :) )  the next time you are in a store or in a restaurant tell who ever waits on you or checks you out or helps you find something...tell them thank you, tell them that they are doing a great job.  Honestly it will make their day and they will go back to their co-workers and say, "I just had the nicest customer...."