North C: Like a CHILD, Like a CHAMPION

Friday, January 9, 2009

In the book, ''Consipracy Of Kindness'', Steve Sjogren stated that the attempts at sharing the Gospel to others could be divided into 3 phases. The ''Shark Phase'' , ''Carp Phase'' and the ''Dolphin Phase'' .

SHARK PHASE
People who fall into this Category are people who:
*Tends to be movers who love to take over any project at hand
*Known for getting a lot done but not necessarily without incident
*Tends to traumatize everyone around them with their unfettered aggression
*Has no long-term prospects for productivitiy
*Fits the picture of all the worse characteristics of a pushy salesman

CARP PHASE
(Carps has the opposite nature of aggresive sharks) and people who falls into this category are people who:
*Moves through life in a lethargic manner
*Whose primary aim in life is to seek the safe route to avoid responsibility
*Doesn't make things happen. They watch things happen.
Carps are sometimes former zealots for the Lord, believers who have become discouraged along the way and couldn't take the pressure. Their love for God or people hasn't necessarily grown dim; they've just grown tired of militant evangelism.

DOLPHIN PHASE
(Dolphins have the combined strengths of both sharks and carps) and people who fall into this category are peope who:
*Are enthusiastic and positive, yet keeps the issue of personal responsibility in proper balance
*Moves through life with a deep sense of purpose, whereas the shark tends to be overly responsible and the carp accomplishes little or nothing.
*Has a mission in life, but still has fun on the way to the goal

This is interesting, isn't it? Which phase are you at right now? Personally, I used to hang around the carp phase. True, often times, my aim was to always seek the safe route, not much of avoiding responsibilites, but more of the pressure faced. Over my 2 years of walk in Christ, I started out being at the shark phase and hey, I was quite an enthusiastic newbie who's very ''steady'' with evangelism. However, as time passes by, I grew tired of it and was very much discouraged by the rejections that I'd received from people so much so that it pressurizes me from sharing the Gospel. Yes, I love the Lord. But I never had the courage to get out of the house of the Lord. It was definitely a struggle which I'd took quite a long while to get out from.

However, much later, I began to realize that the pressure for success in evangelism shouldn't even be weighed upon my own shoulders. Nor does it be stressed upon the person whom I'm evangelising to. Then where does my pressure/expectations be rest upon? Right from where it should have remained from the beginning- on God! And true enough, rejections (and sometimes even criticisms) from evangelism is inevitable and completely normal. As George Bernard Shaw says, ''Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong.'' It took me a long long while to learn not to demand success but to see every opportunity (small or big ones) as a learning experience that would mould me into a more capable/mature servant of Christ. Trust me, the fear of failure is much scary and worse off than failure itself. It crippled me from taking a step out of my comfort zone and attempting to give my best.

Alongside with Joshua and Weiloong, the 3 of us went down to Sun Plaza last afternoon to evangelise. As I shoved aside my fears and concerns, I realized how much more God was using me! In 'bout an hour's time, I managed to approach 15people. Of course, the enthusiasm displayed by Joshua and Weiloong had also encouraged me a lot too. (You know how sometimes we see in the telly many cockroaches dispersing out from every corner and someone slapping it real hard with a sandal, not giving any cockroaches a miss?) --Their spirit was exactly like that! Haha! I am not exaggerating. Hmm, perhaps the only difference is that they were dealing with human beings, not pests. Haha!

And well, because of that afternoon, my heart was filled with a sense of fulfillment and Joy for the rest of the entire day. Perhaps the Joy of evangelism is not only witnessing people coming to know Christ, but also seeing yourself growing and starting to take that teeny-weeny step of courage and faith to spread the Gospel (:

-Ariella Joan

North C wrote at ;; 12:16 AM