Friday Night Notes

fighting the "old man"...

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Ephesians 4:22-23)

This week has NOT been a good one. I worked insane hours, got a flat tire on my way back home at midnight (a couple of nights ago), and had a few nasty issues with a co-worker. So to be honest, I kind of went for street evangelism tonight with the "let's just get this week over with" attitude.

You see, Rand has a problem. His problem is with this thing called temperance. You see, I like to think that my list of qualities is fairly long, but patience and calmness, well, might not be on the list.

So why am I telling you this on my Friday Night Notes? Well, tonight one of the street drunks, who didn't appreciate our preaching, broke one of our gospel signs in an effort to intimidate us. I wanted to floor him sooooooooooo bad, but I quickly got a grip and reminded myself that for the public to see Rand the street preacher beating up on a drunkard wouldn't exactly be a good testimony. I then thought to myself: "okay, I can't beat him up, so I'll just antagonize him by preaching judgement and hellfire right in front of him all night!"

And you know what? I actually started walking towards the miserable soul and began to put my plan in action. About 10 seconds later, I stopped and asked myself: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" Just like that it dawned on me just how wicked and vindictive I was being, so I walked back to our corner, asked for forgiveness, and continued with my preaching.

So you see, dear readers, I'm afraid I must confess that I'm still fighting the "old Rand", and sometimes (ok...often), he gets the better of me. It's a good thing perfection isn't required to be a preacher of Christ's gospel, I would most definitely be disqualified.

Please pray for me in relation to our evangelistic endeavours, for courage, for wisdom, for love from a sincere heart, and yes, for TEMPERANCE.

I thank you in advance, dear brothers and sisters. Goodnight.