Do you ever wish you were younger? Do you miss those days gone by when life was carefree and you didn’t seem to have a worry in the world?

Yesterday was my birthday. My husband has taken my birthday off ever since we’ve been married and spent the entire day with me. This year, however, he had to be out of town on a business trip that was unavoidable. I took the opportunity to spend time with both of my children on their respective campuses.

I spent the morning with my daughter and her friends, having breakfast together and laughing until our sides hurt. Next I traveled back to the city and spent the evening with my son, having a quiet dinner together.

This morning, as I reflected on my time with my children, I realized this generation has something most people lose along the way, and I’m not talking about a waistline.

They are fearless.

They don’t look at situations and think about all of the reasons it wouldn’t be financially feasible. They don’t list the pros and cons, form a committee, and create an action plan with projected results.

They see a problem, something that doesn’t line up with the way God says things should be, and they address it.

Oh, to be that way about life, every day, always, never backing away or believing that we can’t…. that it’s impossible. 

It seems like as we get older and life gets into a routine, we lose our sense of adventure. We start to believe we’re insignificant and can’t make a difference.

One of my daughter’s good friends, Hannah, walked through campus this week and encountered a guy with a sign that said, “Meet a Pagan.”  Why not?

Hannah walked up and started talking with him, never revealing her spiritual beliefs, but just listening to his. He invited her to a meeting that evening, so guess what she did? She went. Now before you start praying for Hannah’s soul, keep reading, because you may want to be more like her.

She walked in the door to the meeting, eager to learn what she could. Why? Was she considering walking away from her faith? Absolutely not. Hannah recognized the only way to share Jesus with them was to learn what they think, feel, and believe first. She had to understand them so she would know how to introduce them to Jesus.

Oh, to learn from this young lady’s wisdom.

We need to understand people and where they’re coming from to know how to introduce them to Jesus!

Hannah sent text message before she arrived at the meeting asking friends to pray for her to have wisdom to understand and for protection. During the meeting she sent another message and said she thought they were about to break out into Satanic worship, so she asked one of them to call her in a couple of minutes. She used the phone call as her reason to excuse herself from the meeting.

This young lady is eighteen years old and she is fearless for the Gospel.

She went on a mission trip right on her campus.

How many of us hear the great commission and think we have to go overseas to accomplish it [Matthew 28:18-20] Hannah walked into the meeting to learn how others live their lives, to learn about them, while at the same time not compromising her beliefs. She had an exit plan in place so she could leave an uncomfortable situation without being perceived as rude, judgmental or uncaring.

You may be thinking,

What did she do? She didn’t share Jesus with them.”

To which I would argue, she did. Hannah breached a gap that, while invisible, was very real. She made a connection and reached out in love to learn something about this group of people, without criticizing them or telling them they were going to hell. Now, the next time she sees them, she can invite them to sit down and have an open conversation. Or she may invite them to visit her house church since she visited their meeting. Instead of shutting things down for this young man and his friends and closing all lines of communication, Hannah left the door wide open for future conversations, for future outreach.

I call her fearless, but the truth is she said she was scared to death to walk into the meeting. She told us she felt like she was going to throw up, but she didn’t. She walked in the room. She understood 1 John 4:4,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

She understood that sometimes you have to do scary things because there are thing more important than your fear.

Somewhere along the way, people tend to lose their fearlessness in the faith, failing to take God at His Word when He says in Matthew 19:26,

With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to see a situation and view it more as an opportunity than obstacle. I want to be willing to be uncomfortable for the Gospel. I want to look for opportunities to love people into the Kingdom.

I want to be fearless.

How about you?