Taking Over the World

I remember when my boys were younger and they loved to watch "The Animaniacs." Their favorite part of that series was a cartoon called "Pinky and the Brain." The beginning of each episode was Pinky (left) asking Brain (right), "What are we going to do tonight, Brain?" And his response was always, "The same thing we always do Pinky. Try and take over the world." They would then think up some hair-brained scheme that always blew up in their face.

We as Christians are suppose to do what Pinky and Brain failed to do, "Try and take over the world." However, when asked to go visit visitors to Sunday services or we have the opportunity to share Christ with someone we run into, we hide behind our fear that they will think we are weird (we are a "peculiar people," you know) or our own "shyness," "I just can't go up and talk to strangers.

I tend to be the second one. I will write all the cards you want and I will even make phone calls thanking people for attending on Sunday, but when it comes to evangelism, I hide behind my shyness. I really am shy around people. In a room full of people I don't know, I tend to go to a corner, sit, and say nothing. I even hate to attend a new Sunday School class by myself even though I know I need that close knit fellowship with other Christians.

I am in fact a peculiar Christian. Sometimes, even among other Christians, I don't quite fit in because I will make the effort to get to know my neighbors whether they are Christians or not. In the country, when your nearest neighbor is a fourth of a mile down the road, you need to know your neighbors in cases of emergency, you can call them to help you. But even in that circumstance, I let my husband "break the ice".

I have spoken before of how people will just up and talk to me about their problems. Now if they start the conversation, I am very comfortable continuing it. I guess I am just not an initiator. I have been deeply hurt by people that called themselves Christians and I have let it make me draw into a shell and not initiate conversations with anyone.

All of this shows a lack of faith on my part. I am not trusting God to either heal my hurts or give me strength to overcome my shyness. It hurts me when I think of how little I trust God to help me evangelize.

God commands me to spread His gospel message, "He said, 'All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commandments I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.'"

It is time for me to take a cue from Jesus as well as Pinky and the Brain. It's time for me to start trusting God and go out and "take over the world."