Philip the Deacon

From today's reading:  Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch returning home (from Jerusalem), he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up. . . and he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.  The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip began to speak.          Acts 8:26-27, 29-30,32,34-35

Philip is one of the seven men selected in Acts to serve the church along with the disciples.  I love this reading - I love what it says.  Philip allowed the Spirit to lead him without question and when he found himself in this place, he first listened before responding.  When he saw this court official in his chariot, and heard him reading from Isaiah, he asked, "Do you understand?"  When invited, he joined the eunuch in the chariot.  But he still listened and did not respond until asked a question.  I think a mistake some Christians make is to assume that someone wants to hear what they have to say, without first listening to their cares and concerns. Philip listens and then waits until the Ethiopian asks him a question.  Then he answers it, openly and honestly.

I've had this kind of thing happen at least twice where I ended up somewhere unusual in a conversation with a stranger, and somewhere in the midst of that conversation realized that it was God appointed.  And the most amazing feeling wells up inside you as you realize that God is using you to make a new difference in someone's life.  Sometimes you only realize it in hindsight, and that's okay.  But the thing that speaks to me most clearly is that evangelism is most effective when the person is in an inquiring and receptive frame of mind.  The Holy Spirit does his work and then brings us in to "seal the deal" - to clarify and affirm what He is already doing - to let the person know that God cares enough to give them help and companions along the way.  Where has the Spirit led you lately?