Evangelization In Our Busy World

Evanglelism is something we all can do. Instead of being so busy with your next To-Do or task how about entering into a discussion with people around you.

Last week I received a phone call from a Charter Spectrum representative whom I will call Lynn to set up an appointment to check out a house wiring issue.

While she was explaining her call, I sensed something special with the calmness in her voice that garnered my attendion.
After setting the appointment, we continued our conversation that led to discussing some personal matters.  I sensed a spiritual connection in the process as Lynn started to give me details about her life. She was working at home in another area of the country while living in with her parents. She was also caretaker for her father aged 72 who was recovering from brain injury. I could relate to a number of things she was saying because I live with my daughter and son-in-law in the same house.

Lynn said that there is a special connection with a father daughter relationship. I responded that a father is a role model for a daughter especially when she is seeking a mate.
Lynn said that she went to *Medjugorje as a 14-year-old teenager back in the 1980s when the civil war was a problem in Yugoslavia. She recalled the Serbian soldiers checking the tourists and stopping them.
I asked her what effect that trip had on her. She said that being a young teenager she didn’t have an immediate spiritual encounter. She asked if I went there and I responded “no” 
She recalled her parents’ home included many gatherings with priests during her formative years. Lynn said she was divorced with three children. One of the significant things that she mentioned to me led me to believe in her loving heart.
She said that she is not attached to objects and one time she was wearing special ear rings. One person complimented her on that jewelry and Lynn’s response was to take them off her ears and give them to that person as a gift. I responded with a couple of quotes with one attributed to Mark Twain: "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see"- Mark Twain.
The other quote was a comment my pastor made, “There is no U Haul trailer with your possessions in the funeral procession to your grave.”
So in our conversation that started as a business call, we had an opportunity to encourage each other in Christian fellowship.
Lynn said she had a few more phone calls to make for Spectrum yesterday. She appreciated having our extended conversation and I did too.

* Medjugorje is a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It’s been an unofficial place of Catholic pilgrimage since the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared on Apparition Hill in 1981.

After the appointment was made, I received a call from a service technician to repair an internet wire problem. When I opened the door to let him in, the first words out of his mouth were these: “Hi I’m Kristian”. My response was this: “Are you also a Christian.”  His response was “yes” and this led to our conversation intermittently as he repaired the wiring issue.

I gave him a blessed St. Benedict medal on a keychain that he appreciated getting. Then he explained that he was an altar boy in a neighborhood church that was close to a housing project where he grew up. He mentioned a specific priest’s name: *Fr.Dennis Rocheford whom I knew. (Check the link below for details on his life.) The service technician explained the positive effects that this priest had on his youth. He said that when he was 12 years old Fr. Dennis would give him daily jobs such as cleaning up the parish grounds and pay him a daily wage.

He credited Fr. Dennis with keeping him out of trouble. I said that he must have been a role model for you as a youngster and Kristian agreed. I’m aware of that housing project with quite a severe social problem with gangs during his youth.

I remember Fr. Dennis who committed suicide becausehe suffered from post traumatic stress disorder as a former chaplain in Vietnam during that wartime period before coming back to the Worcester Diocese to serve as a parish priest. His unexpected death was a lesson for all of us to be aware of warning signs that a person is potentially suicidal.

I said that I was a former English teacher and Kristian mentioned the name of his high school English teacher whom he liked. I remember that teacher who was a college classmate of mine who had a no nonsense reputation as a teacher. His burly appearance may have intimidated his students to behave in class.
Then Kristian became the teacher and I the learner as he explained how he tested the various cable lines in the house. One of the cable lines was near a bookcase. On the shelf was a copy of a paperback book entitled Loving God by Charles Colson.

I gave him the book to keep since I’m in the process of reading a Kindle version of the same book. He said that he was not much of a reader but I encouraged him to read a few pages at a time as he placed the book in his case. I’ve read a few of Charles Colson’s books in the past and I like his writing style. He was the former lawyer for Pres. Nixon during the Watergate scandal. During his incarceration, he went on to found a worldwide prison fellowship ministry after his conversion to evangelical Christianity.

When the service call was completed, I gave Kristian a cold bottle of Gatorade and we shook hands.
While he drove away to his next service call, I was thinking of the interesting lives people have if we are open to each other to express our humanity and spirituality.

*Fr. Dennis Rocheford
https://www.frdennisrocheford.org/