It’s kind of funny sometimes the things that you take for granted until you no longer have them. Take life in Barrouaille for instance, I can live without many of the conveniences found in the US like fast-food, large grocery stores, or anything I could possibly need being a fifteen minute drive away.
Those things don’t bother me
What I do struggle living without is air conditioning 🙂
Now before you think I’m just feeling sorry for myself please don’t worry too much because the combination of a fan and open windows will keep a person cool on hot days. However being in a hot climate without air-conditioning in houses reminds a person just how awesome a glass of cold water is.
A few houses down the street from me is a large family that is cared for by the mother, and two older daughters. I’ve gotten to know them pretty well since we see each other when I go on my walks through town, and recently they began coming to my house asking for a glass of cold water in the afternoon. Being a very kind person (also known as a sucker) I would give it to them, and now hardly a day goes by when they don’t ring the bell on my porch.
This is actually fine by me because giving out a glass of water is simply a form of hospitality (helping those in need) and of course it gives me an opportunity to talk with them about the Lord. Last week I even took a jug and glasses down to them on a particularly hot morning!
In a way it’s easy to view something as giving out a glass of cold water as unimportant but it’s important to understand this isn’t just a refreshing drink on a hot day. Instead it’s a brick in the Gospel Bridge built into someone’s life.
In my opinion, a Gospel Bridge is the relationship that is developed between a Christian and Unbeliever for the purpose of sharing Christ and living out the Gospel
Now this doesn’t mean of course that every relationship a Christian develops with the unsaved has an agenda (the only reason I’m spending time with you is to share the Gospel) but Believers should be looking for opportunities to connect with unsaved around them. In those relationships God will provide opportunities to live out the Gospel through a Christian testimony or share it verbally.
The thing about Gospel Bridges is you can’t build them overnight. They must be built one brick at a time.
Saturday morning my neighbors came by and asked along with the usual cold water if I could fill a very large jug they were using to wash their clothes by hand. Lugging the now extremely heavy full jug back to them I brought up casually “you know we are having a young people’s meeting at Church next Friday, you should come.” After asking what time both of them agreed to be there.
I’m not entirely sure if they are actually going to back that promise up with action, or they were just trying to get me off their back. I do know however that if I had tried asking them to a young people’s meeting the first night their answer would have been no.
Because I was just the new American missionary nobody knew anything about
Now I’m the American missionary who gives them cold water, and greets them by name every day.
It’s easy when trying to reach people with the Gospel to look for huge life-changing opportunities. But this focus keeps us from noticing the simple everyday actions that can slowly but surely build a bridge into their lives
svgmissionary.com 