What Else?

I have been in the fire service now for almost 8 years. I enjoy helping people in their time of need. Sometimes when I get talking about the fire service it is hard to stop. Tonight I had a conversation with a 4 year old named J.J. He is cute and very interested in a lot of things. We got talking about the fire station and he asked me what was at the fire station. I told him we had 6 trucks, a trailer and an ambulance at our station. Then he said eagerly, “what else?” I told him about the hose, “With even more intensity he asked what else?”, I told him about the Jaws of Life, “what else?”, I told him about the thermal imaging camera, “what else, do you have a Dalmatian?”…you get the point, this conversation went on for about 30 minutes. I love talking to kids about fire safety, but sometimes when you talk to 4 year olds it’s easy to forget that the two questions “what else?” and “why?” can be asked over and over. It was a great conversation and his parents are becoming pretty good friends of mine. When I got home I was thinking about my conversation with my buddy J.J. and two thoughts have captivated me tonight.

Here I am willing to spend an evening talking with J.J. about fire trucks and hoses, but how willing am I to talk to people about my God. Mark 16:15 (NIV) says “He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” How are we doing? Are you going to your jobsite, your chemical plant, your grocery store, your fitness center, your school and even your churches and preaching the good news to ALL creation. In my opinion the church today has become complacent when it comes to evangelism. We tend to lick each other’s wounds in the church with a “take care of our own” attitude. All the while, we ignore our neighbors, friends and family members that need not only to hear about the love that God has for us, but they need to experience it firsthand. I would have answered any question that J.J. had about the fire department tonight, and I did. The more he asked, the more excited I got and the more I answered the more excited he got. It can and should be that way when it comes to God. We live in a time that people are hurting. They have been abused physically and emotionally for years. Some have dealt with some pretty substantial losses, including family members, jobs and friends. We live in an economy that is causing people great stress and anxiety nearly every day of their lives. There are people in our neighborhoods that are waking up without any hope. We have the answer…it’s not drugs, it’s not working more hours, it’s not alcohol…it’s a Heavenly Father that wants to help them. Are we doing our part to fulfill the request of Jesus? He said go into ALL the world and preach the good news to ALL creation.

Secondly I was amazed at how captivated that J.J. was with the whole fire service thing. It was like one question and answer led to five more. It was like he couldn’t get enough information from me. I got thinking, are we that way with God? I recently have been reading a book called He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobson. The first chapter of this great book talks about how we play “Daisy Petal Christianity” with God. He Loves Me…things are going good. He Loves Me Not…things aren’t going so good. You get the picture…but why can’t we learn to be so captivated with our God that we can’t get enough of him. We delve into our occupations, families, addictions and tend to give God what is left over in our lives. Sometimes it might be a prayer at the end of the day. Maybe we spend 10 minutes during the course of the week in true quiet time reading the Bible and seeking His purpose for our lives. Most Christians that I know can relate to this lifestyle. Between ballgames, friendships, hobbies, church, school, board meetings, etc. we forget to include God in our lives. The cool thing is…it can change.

Before tonight J.J. wasn’t that excited about the fire service. As a matter of fact he told me that he wanted to be a cop when he grew up...I got a few years to work on him. But by the end of the conversation and discussions of making a trip to the fire station I think that he was a pretty hyped up about the shiny red trucks with the miles of hose. Maybe it’s time for us to do the same with God. Maybe instead of reading our bible or having a bible study because it’s the right thing to do we should spend some intimate time and slow down and actually listen to what God wants for us. I have started to do this over the last year. I thought I had it all figured out…and let me tell you, since slowing down and listening to God I have realized I had it all wrong.

So, I’d like to challenge you with two things…

Go tell somebody about Jesus. Someone who’s live depends on it.

and

Slow down and listen to God. He is more important than anything that is on your planner for tomorrow.

Oh and if you are excited about joining the fire department because J.J. got you excited too…contact your local fire chief. Thanks J.J. for the life lesson tonight, at four years old you taught me a lot more about life than I taught you about fire trucks.