“A man lived by side of the road…..and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes so he read no newspaper, nor did he watch TV. But, he sold great hot dogs. He put a sign up on the highway telling how great they were. He stood by the side of the road and cried, “Hey, You, want to buy a great hot dog?” And people came and they bought. So, he increased his meat and bun order. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade.

Then one day his son came home from college to help him. His son said, “Dad, haven’t you heard the news about the recession? The economy is really bad. The unemployment situation is terrible. The energy situation is even worse. The housing market has went down the drain, and everyone is suffering”

Whereupon the hot dog man thought, “Well my son’s been to college. He reads the newspapers and listens to the radio, he ought to know.” So the father cut down on his meat and bun order. He took down his advertising signs. He no longer bothered to stand by the side of the road and yelled, “Want buy my hot dogs?” And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight. “You’re right son.” The hot dog man said to his boy. “We certainly are in the middle of a bad recession!”

The same things happen in the church. As a young Christian you may be fired up and ready to turn the church and the community upside down and fill the sanctuary every Sunday. Then discouragement settles in. It can come from the inside or the outside. Your friends may not understand the dramatic change that has occurred in our life. They just know that all of a sudden, you aren’t any fun to hang out with. If church is the cause of this, they don’t want to have anything to do with it.

Or often it comes from the inside. You don’t seem to dress the way that a perceived “proper” Christian should dress for church. Or the great idea you had to get new people in the church doesn’t get the warm reception you expected from the pastor. There are a thousand other things that could occur. Christians tend to be very un-Christian-like at the worst times.

Maybe you’re fortunate enough that you haven’t gone through this. Maybe you were just never that fired up about sharing your faith before because it seemed so intimidating. Or maybe things have happened exactly as I’ve described and you’re scared to death that the same thing will happen again.

Whatever the case may be, odds are that if you are reading this, you have at least some interest in evangelism and sharing the gospel with others. You realize that there are many people out there who don’t know God or have any idea about what Jesus has done for them.

It is time to stop just realizing and knowing what needs to be done and be the first one to get out and do something about it. It is time to stop waiting for someone to start a program or a special church service. Our friends and neighbors and family are dying and standing on the precipice of leaving this life without ever having experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ. If not you, who? If not now, when? It is time for each of us to raise the bar! It's time to stand up and step up in doing God's will.

Evangelism Tip for Today: Select a favorite verse of scripture and list it below your emails (someone will look it up).

Prayer: Infinite Creator, we thank you for the limitless reach of Your love, grace and mercy.  We long to raise the bar in our relationship with You in these next 50 Days.  Open us to the ways You would move in and through us.  Amen.