Feeling Out Of Place?

When I was in the 9th grade, our class was offered a hunters' education & safety course. Because I was born after 1971, I had to take the class in order to get a hunting license and the gun safety aspects of the class would be useful. I was the only girl to sign up for the class and I felt totally out of place. When it came time for the gun safety and targeting shooting portions of the course, some of the guys laughed and said I would "shoot like a girl". But on the range that day, I was the only one to hit the target with the rifle.

While we were visiting my family over the weekend, my husband and I went target shooting. We have never done this before together but have done it separately on several occasions. I placed the muffs on my ears and shot several rounds. He went to check out the targets and each round, I hit the target mark or hit within 2 inches above the target mark. He shook his head and admitted he thought I was going to "shoot like a girl". Now he knows...I don't shoot like a girl at all!

We've all heard the story in the Bible where Jesus feeds the 5,000 people. Although it was quite a miracle to feed that many with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, I believe the real miracle is listed as only one sentence in John 6:9: "Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Jesus "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish." The other part we often miss in this great story is the nameless boy who offered his basket of food to Jesus. If it weren't for that one little boy, the miracle would not have happened on that day. He was surrounded by so many people, probably feeling out of place. So what was it exactly that the boy did? He stepped forward and spoke up. If he would not have told them what he had, I'm sure he would've gotten lost in the crowd of thousands.

I've felt alone in many cases, including when I was the only girl in hunters' ed class. Other times I've felt alone when I've been in a crowd of people engaging in conversation and the topic of religion, God or eternity comes up. If I don't speak up, no one knows what I have to share. It is the same for you. If we don't speak up and share from our heart, nervous as though we may be, no one will know about the hope we have been given; the hope we have to share with others. If we don't, we blend into the crowd and the crowd is left wondering who will step forward? Who will have the guts to talk about God's love for His children no matter who is around listening? For when we do, a much greater miracle could take place right before our eyes!