Father, thank You for Your wonderful gift of the Gospel. Help me to keep my eyes and ears open to your leading to help share what has so impacted me. Give me the courage and the words to share with any person you direct me to meet. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Seize the Opportunity 34And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. —Acts 8:34-35 Running late for a lunch appointment, I bounded down the steps of the parking garage ready to jog the last half-block to the restaurant where my friend sat waiting. As I rounded the last turn on the stairwell, I noticed a young man standing by the door to the street. He was reading a Bible. As I neared him, I said, “I see that you are reading the Bible, what do you think of the story?” His response gripped me as he stated, in a matter of fact way, “I don’t really understand it . . . do you know anything about it?” In that moment, I realized that I was having a God-ordained “Philip moment.” In Acts 8, God directs Philip to a roadside encounter with an Ethiopian court official who stood reading from the book of Isaiah. Philip meets him in the middle of a desert, not by coincidence. In the Scripture, we see that the Holy Spirit prompted Philip to “go over and join the chariot.” Philip ran to the man and founding him reading from the book of Isaiah and, much like my interaction with the young man in the parking garage, the Ethiopian man expressed his desire to know more about what the Scripture was saying. As one reads through the chapter, it is clear that Philip seized the opportunity to explain the Scripture and proclaim the good news of the Gospel to the man. We see even further evidence that the man responded in faith to the Gospel because we see him pursuing baptism straight away. In that moment, in the parking garage stairwell, I faced a choice: Do I push ahead to my important business lunch with another Pastor, or do I stop and seize the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel? Will I hear and obey the Holy Spirit’s direction to “go over and join him?” Will I run to the opportunity like Philip did? In just a few short minutes, I was able to share the story of Christ’s love and sacrifice that was needed because we are all sinners and I was able to magnify the grace that is shown by Christ toward us in the face of our absolute rebellion against Him. I was able to explain faith and repentance and the unbelievable privilege of relationship with God Himself. Our conversation was short, but I left intensely impacted by this event. I’m convicted that opportunities like the conversation in the stairwell are God ordained moments for us. We must seize the opportunity to be heralds of the Gospel to those who need Christ. What opportunities to proclaim the Gospel will God put before you today . . . and will you seize the opportunity?—Brian White Journal: · When I am busy with my day, am I looking for “God ordained moments” to share the Gospel? · Have I ever had an experience like the one just described? What did I do?