Opportunity Knocks

Today I witnessed another one of God's reminders. It was one of those moments where it hit you smack between the eyes. It's amazing how the smallest things can tell so much.
Today the school started locking all of the outside doors. At lunch, you can go just outside the doors to some soda machines to get a drink. Well, two girls went out to get sodas. One girl actually went to the machines and another stood and held the door open so they wouldn't get locked out. Now I'm not sure if she kicked the door or it slipped or what but it ended up closing on her locking her and her friend out. What happened then? People started laughing. They thought that, that girl's mistake of letting the door close was hilarious and needless to say no one was exactly jumping up to open the door for them. Now on the far side of that same wall the door is on, is where they sell Domino's pizza everyday. Now some kids from Project Life, which involves the special ed. kids, take turns every day serving the pizza. Well the young gentleman today serving pizza left his spot at the pizza table, crossed the cafeteria, and opened the door for the girls when no one else would. Isn't that just awesome?? He didn't think twice about it, he didn't care what anyone else said about him, he just got up and did it. It was such a good reminder for me of how my reaction to those situations to be.
Now, put yourself into that situation. What would your response be? Since I was in the situation I can already see what I've done. And I'll admit I'm not exactly proud of my response. I simply sat there I watched. Even worse, the thought to go open the door myself never even crossed my mind. How awful is that?? It took someone else finally stepping up to the plate and opening the door for me to even think about that! I've thought about what I was thinking at that moment, and I've realized this. It didn't cross my mind because I thought it wasn't my job, or my duty. I wasn't sitting close to the door so I figured the ball didn't land in my court. I mean, there were plenty of people close to the door capable of opening it, right? They could do it. But yet, there's my problem. I tried to put the job, the responsibility, the blame on someone else's shoulders. I figured I was "in the clear." Where I was sitting didn't matter though. I very easily could have gotten up from my chair and opened that door. But instead, I decided to let someone else do it, and just like Pilate from Bryan's story a couple of weeks ago, I washed my hands of the entire thing. I always have an opportunity. Every day there are plenty of opportunities for me to step out of my comfort zone and help someone else. But yet, how many times do I actually take those opportunities??
Being a disciple of Christ isn't just about thinking about doing the right thing or saying the right thing, its about DOING the right thing and actually living out what God has commanded us. I know I haven't exactly being living up to that lately. So, I pray tonight that God would help me show love through my actions. Like Bryan said during the Disciple series: "It won't necessarily be easy, but it will be worth it."