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Recently I was thrown into a challenge I really feared, but when it was over, I realized that it was God’s blessing to help me grow up. The challenge was to accept huge risk and trust that God would enable me to overcome it. Even more, the challenge was to accept the risk and trust that whatever the outcome, it would be God’s blessing and gift.

The problem was that our sailboat’s diesel engine, the power source that get us in and out of harbors or past tricky hazards, quit working when we were in a location where there was not a diesel mechanic to be found. We were hundreds of miles from help. Our sailboat was well designed for ocean passages, but we felt unready for this kind of a passage. We had never sailed anywhere without an engine to fall back on. To set out with sails only on a journey that would take days and cover hundreds of miles was a little scary.

We took the big risk, trusting that God would not abandon us. As we plotted our course and watched the weather, we prayed for wisdom and guidance. We had to trust that God’s gift of wisdom would enable us to know the right day to set out. Otherwise we might have continued to wait indefinitely for some specific sign that it was the right time to go.

The day came. We prayed Psalm 62 together, committing ourselves to use every gift and talent God had provided, trusting he would carry us through the challenges that exceeded our abilities. We raised the sail and headed out. We sailed through wild winds and strange currents. We sailed in the moonlight and the midday sun. We changed sails in the dark of night and in torrential downpours. Before things got better they got worse, as additional systems aboard picked this time to fail. We faced and solved problems we had never faced before, and at all times, we counted on God’s promise to be with us wherever we were. We grew in faith, and we grew in skill. This big risky situation became a rich blessing. Six days later, just before sunrise, we tied up at a dock in a boat service facility with a diesel mechanic.

Some people might suggest that we should have prayed for God to provide a diesel mechanic where we were. I have no doubt that God could have done exactly that, but we did not feel led to pray that way. We asked God for wisdom, and our best understanding of his response to that prayer was to sail the boat to some place where there already was a mechanic. We had to stretch ourselves beyond our experience. We had to take beginner skills and grow them into master skills. We trusted God to guide us all the way. We did not sit back and wait for God either to deliver a mechanic to us or to teleport us to a mechanic.

Some people might say that we ought to be able to take the risk of a sailing challenge on our own without bothering God. Save him for the diagnosis of cancer or the death of a child. The Bible teaches us that God will go with us through any challenge. He calls each person to unique challenges, because he has given each person unique gifts. God wants us to mature and develop the gifts with which he endowed us at creation. In fact, my experience leads me to believe that just as parents lead their children to new challenges in order to help them grow up, the Holy Spirit calls us into risky situations that help us mature in our faith.

God is never really done with us, either. At the age of eighty Moses was called by God to do a terrifying job. Moses tried every way possible to avoid doing it, because he saw how risky it was. God overruled all his objections, and said, “I will be with you.”

After the crucifixion of Jesus, his followers met in locked rooms, fearing that they, too, would be arrested and executed. Yet, on the day Jesus ascended into heaven, he told them to get out and tell the good news to everyone. Knowing their fears, and knowing how well justified the fears were, he told them to take that risk anyway, and he promised, “I will be with you.”

Moses took the risk. The disciples took the risk. My husband and I took the risk. Each of us discovered that when our resources had run out, when we could not think of anything more to do about the problem, God was still there. He carried us through. He didn’t speak a magic word and take us out of our troubles. Rather, he walked with us through the challenges. He nudged. He tipped the balance. He showed us a new idea. He inspired a new question. He comforted us in our fears.

We aren’t all called to lead half a million people across a sea. Some of us are called to explore creation and discover God’s handiwork in faraway places. Some of us draw. Some of us sing. Some of us repair diesel engines or build computers. Each of us is unique, and each of us has potential we will never discover if we sit on our hands and wait for God to prevent all the risks. The people who jump out of helicopters to snowboard down mountains know that reaching your limit and discovering that it isn’t a limit at all is a high that is better than drugs. We don’t have to be snowboarders to experience that rush. We simply need to be faithful followers of our Lord, ready to accept the risks we encounter, trusting that he always leads us for our blessing. It is a risk well worth taking.

Today I came to grips with a conflict I had not previously recognized. The more I try to live a life of faith with integrity, the more I encounter this sort of thing. The wisdom of the world is often in direct or indirect conflict with the teachings of Christ, and I don’t always see that conflict before I act. Sometimes my habits kick in before my commitment to be a blessing gets a word in. It happened yesterday, and the crucial habit was formed and honed twenty or more years ago. My reason for bringing it up is to ask how I participate in something that truly is business process improvement while maintaining my Christian commitment to speak a blessing and be a blessing in my business transactions.

 Worldly wisdom, and excellent business leaders, taught me long ago that every business is above all in the business of customer service. I learned it as an employee, and I expect it as a customer. When it doesn’t happen, I feel compelled to speak up and ask for change. That, too, was part of my business training. From the time I absorbed this truth as an employee right up to the present day, I have considered it my obligation to compliment businesses with excellent customer service and to help the others improve.

 I ran into just such a situation yesterday. I had set up my credit card account online to be paid from a checking account at my direction. Because of my lifestyle with only intermittent internet access, I need to make the most of that access when I have it. I considered that the job of setup for paying that account saved me all kinds of time when I needed to pay the bill. It worked beautifully for more than a year.

 All that changed, unbeknownst to me, when I opened a new checking account at the bank that had issued my credit card. Without asking me, or even notifying me, the bank invalidated my setup for payment and left me no option online except to take the payment from my new checking account. Unbeknownst to them, because they did not ask, I had designated the new checking account for a different purpose, and I did not expect to deposit the money for my credit card in that account. I expected, planned and purposed to use the money in the original checking account.

 I contacted customer service, expecting an apology and the immediate restoration of the plan that had already worked so well for me. My expectations were as fruitless as those of the famous Miss Haversham. The options they offered me were all tedious, time-consuming, inconvenient, and as far as I was concerned, unnecessary. My personal commitment to teaching businesses about customer service kicked in, and I expressed myself about this situation. I believe that I used the words “arrogant,” “presumptuous,” “poor customer service,” and “completely uncalled for.” It only got worse. The support representative told me that I had to call some other number in order to register my complaint, and no, I could not speak to her supervisor.

 Eventually the conversation ended, and I did thank the representative for doing what she could, which was nothing. I normally try to end all my business conversations with the words, “God bless you,” because I want to salt my conversations with faith speech. I think it is part of the work Christ has called each of us to do. However, I didn’t feel very faithful at that point. I knew that I had not been a blessing to the support representative, and I had complained bitterly about her and her employer. Still, I also felt that nothing would ever change if every customer simply accepted such things without comment. The behavior of the bank made me angry, so angry that I was actually sick at my stomach. Yet it was completely true that the person I was talking to could not change anything. I spoke and acted on the principle that if I complained long enough and assertively enough, she would surely tell the story over and over and maybe somebody who could do something about the broken processes would take action.

 Still, I worry about the fact that I did not bless the support representative by either my behavior or my words. I tried not to be rude, but I was aggressive and assertive, in the hope of actually getting to talk with someone who had power. It didn’t happen. What should I have done differently?

 At this moment, I don’t know. I do believe that there is something I need to change in myself for this kind of situation. I do believe that I should be a blessing to people I meet. Yet I found myself propelled by my profound indignation at the way the bank was treating me. I know very well that any other customer would be treated the same way, and I think it is bad business, because it will make customers hate the bank. Because I learned the responses in the world of business, I responded in a secular, completely business kind of way. I think there must be a solution that is Christlike, even as it advocates for better customer service to all customers.

 Is it because at the root, I was in it completely for me? Was I simply outraged personally to a degree that I lost touch with the Spirit within and started worshiping Self instead? What was the real problem here? I do think that customers must speak up when business processes are broken, but I feel that as a follower of Christ I must be mindful of the individual with whom I am speaking. She might have agreed with me that the bank was out of order, but she could hardly say so.

 I am making this a matter of prayer, but I would also like to hear the insights of others. There has to be a better way to advocate for good customer service while blessing the person with whom I am working. Can anybody help me?

Somebody once said that we should share Christ at all times and speak if necessary. It is a good reminder that people read our actions more than our words. If we expect to give faithful testimony, our actions are important. However, we can give the message more effectively and with a greater likelihood that it will be understood if we speak. People are likely to start looking at our deeds with a critical eye after we say something about loving the Lord, but our words are probably what gets their attention first.

 People sometimes think they need special words or methods in order to share their faith. They may fear that they will make a theological mistake. We need to get over those concerns. Christianity is a way of living shaped by a relationship with Christ. If I am talking about life, I am talking about my life in relationship with Christ. When I speak intentionally or unintentionally about my relationship with Christ in conversation with another person I am testifying in the biblical sense. It need not be a speech, and I need not ask the other person in the conversation to concur in my faith. I simply need to speak about my faith with the same simplicity and natural words I use when speaking about cooking or the books I read.

 I have not yet reached a place where I need not work at intentional testimony. It happens more readily now than it used to, but I must still push myself sometimes. I think one of Satan’s best squelches is the contemporary habit of taking offense at everything. It is easy for me to avoid faith speech if I start to worry about offending someone. I get the idea of inviting someone to church, but as I face that person and start looking for the right moment, I get a little frisson of fear. What if it makes them angry? What if they don’t want to be friends any more? It is easier to get past that moment by reminding myself that I am who I am and I need to be honest about it. Maybe we should stop using the words “witness” or “testimony” so heavily. Maybe we should simply say that faith speech is being honest about who we are in relationship with Christ at all times.

 Faith speech is not a sermon. It is normal conversation that can take many forms. It isn’t all about converts, either. Faith speech links believers to one another just as surely as it attracts those who do not believe yet. Faith speech is part of our ministry of encouragement to one another. In fact, faith speech encourages the speaker, too. It comes in many forms.

• Would you like to visit my church with me this Sunday?
•  God loves you.
•  God bless you.
•  You are in my prayers.

 People in dressy clothes on Sunday morning in a marina attract attention. When we lived in a marina, we walked to church every Sunday morning, and later in the week we would see people who asked, “Where were you going all dressed up?” That question gave us opportunities to invite people to go to church with us. Not too many actually joined us, but occasionally someone would. People knew what we believed, and sometimes they said things like, “I know you go to church, so ….”

 After I became more intentional in faith speech, I found numerous opportunities to say, “God loves you.” The world is a troubled place, and people have problems. I am constantly amazed at the things people tell me about their problems. When they do, my first response is often, “God loves you.” I say those words, because I want to remind them that God is not the source of the problems. People say, “I think God is testing me,” and I want them to know that God is not in the business of giving us grades. God sent Christ to die for us. The God who loves us that much is not going to instigate evil in our lives. The evil comes from elsewhere, not from God. When I testify to God’s love, it often, but not always, leads to a deeper conversation.

 When I made up my mind to be more faithful in testimony, I wanted some easy way to inject faith speech into my conversation. I seized on the very common phrase, “Have a nice day.” Most cashiers say those words as the customer is leaving, and I started responding with the words, “God bless you.” I get all kinds of reactions, but many people say, “Thank you.” No matter what the reaction, I know that they get my message, which is more than just a blessing; it is a reminder, a prick, a word of love, a little surprise in the middle of the day. I think it would be wimpy to say, “God bless.” A blessing needs an object. I say, “God bless you,” and the blessing falls on the person I am speaking to.

 Sometimes the simple words, “God bless you,” lead to a lot more. I don’t say them only to cashiers. I like to say those words in parting at what seems to be the end of a conversation, and more than once the conversation has restarted with a new direction. Those simple faith words are used by the Holy Spirit for real blessing to me and others.

 Sometimes people tell me things that immediately call for prayer. When an acquaintance e-mailed me that she had been laid off from her job, I wrote back with a prayer for her in the e-mail. I don’t know what this person believes about God, but I know what God believes about her. God loves her. When I hear such news in the checkout line at the grocery store, I respond, “I will pray for you.” I pray silently right then and there that God will help this person find work that is fulfilling and pays the bills. When I get home, I add that person to my prayer journal. Maybe I will see that person again, maybe not, but I have spoken in faith, and the Holy Spirit will work with that testimony.

 There are opportunities for faith speech in all sorts of conversations. The important thing is to be completely honest. If someone says, “I don’t know how anyone believes in God any more,” I must honestly say, “Well, I do.” Someone saw me writing and asked, “What do you write about?” I answered, “I write about the Christian life.” She responded, “Oh, I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God,” to which I replied, “That’s okay. He loves you anyway.” We don’t need to be stuffy, and we leave judgment to God. Jesus said that no matter where we go, we should never stop talking about him. Our Christian testimony is not a complicated thing. Speaking words of faith is really just living and breathing our faith.