Sharing Hope (blog)

Would you believe me if I told you that I knew Robin Williams?Neither would I.  But I did stand next to him in New York City once.My husband and I were waiting with friends to cross a street near Rockefeller Center when we saw him there beside us.  We whispered his name to each other and glanced over shyly.  No one wanted to disturb him, and we didn't want to appear ridiculous.As the light signaled and we parted ways with Mr. Williams, we began talking loudly about our chance encounter.  One friend, who had been distracted on the street corner, stopped abruptly."Wait, who did you see?" Keith asked.At first he didn't believe us, but the excitement in our voices and in our eyes convinced him.Keith had stood next to a celebrity and hadn't even seen him.  We felt so bad.  If only the rest of us, who had seen him, hadn't kept so quiet on that street corner.My favorite Robin Williams movie is Awakenings, based on Oliver Sacks' 1973 memoir, about a neurologist working to bring hospital patients in the Bronx out of the catatonic states they were lost in.  Williams' portrayal of Dr. Sayer is so endearing, and I really connected with his character's curiosity and his insecurities.What I found most relatable was how Williams' character found himself, in time, caring for his patients after coming to know them well enough to see their suffering and their need.The film so inspired me that I told friends about it, emphatically:  "You must see this!"Movies fascinate me because they have that power to impact us.  We invest a couple of hours in one and we're changed somehow.  Then we go and tell other people, and some of them go to see and be changed by the movie.My heart ached when I heard the sad news of Robin William's suicide.  From what I've read, the world didn't know the depth of his struggle with depression until after he died.I wonder how many people standing beside me today are struggling, or even despairing, as we enter the New Year.It's strange and it's sad, how I can be so close to people physically and be so far from really knowing them.  How do I share the hope I have in Jesus with them, before the light changes and we go our separate ways?"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!" the Psalmist wrote (100:1 MEV), and not just when we're worshipping God but always and everywhere.On my own I'm too quiet about my faith in Jesus, because I'm shy or I don't want to disturb someone.  I worry I'll appear ridiculous.My witness has to come from time invested in being with Jesus, from giving Him my close attention.  Only this makes my hope palpable, so that people hear salvation's joy in my voice and see the light of Christ in my eyes.  Only this gives me the confidence and the longing to tell people, emphatically, about Him.I remember one day how, after devoting a couple of hours to reading God's Word and to prayer, I went out shopping and a woman I'd never met walked up to me in the store parking lot and just opened up about her fear and anxiety over world events.It was so strange, something that you would think only happens in movies.The hope and comfort that The Lord had lovingly poured into me earlier that day in our time together just flowed right out in response to the woman's need.  I assured her of God's power and control over all things, and I spoke of my trust in His saving grace in Jesus.  She listened, looked intently at me, and then her whole body just relaxed.  A smile came across her face and lit up her eyes.  She believed!  We both walked away changed by that experience.It was an unusual, God-arranged encounter.Normally, knowing what's in people's hearts and sharing with them like that takes a more substantial investment of time and attention.  It takes a relationship.  People have to trust that I really care for them before they will believe what I say, and I need time to grow in my care for them.  I'm finding that it helps to let people see my own struggles and insecurities, as I share my hope in Jesus with them.Redemption is the awesome work of God alone, the One who created us all and who knows our hidden suffering and the depth of our need.  He has the power to impact us eternally.He invested everything in our salvation, coming close enough in the person of Jesus to stand alongside us, to die for us, so that we can know Him and know His enduring love for us.So that we can be forever changed.