Friday Night Notes

a question of perspective...

My friend and brother-in-the-Lord, Pete, made a mild complaint last week of cold weather in his neck of the woods. It was 0 Celsius in North Florida. Well, I was thanking the Lord for the mild weather He provided for us street preachers tonight. It was 0 Celsius.

All and all, it was a pretty smooth night of evangelism. We preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the marketplace from 8 pm to 11pm, and I'd say that things only started getting unpleasant at about 10:30 pm (the later it gets in the market, the more dementedly wicked the people get). I gave out a fair number of Bible tracts and lots of people read our Bible signs. Lots of people... and none of them kicked, punched, spat or made any attempt to break or damage the signs. It was a good night.

Even the street beggars were kind to us tonight (they usually don't care for us much, they see us as competition for peoples' attention). A number of these most wasted souls took some tracts and spoke kindly with us. I prayed and continue to pray that the Lord would be pleased to use us to save some of these sin-ravaged souls. What an amazing miracle that would be to behold! I believe and know that my God can save anyone... regardless of earthly circumstances...

"Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." (Isaiah 59:1)

Brent was back tonight. He's the soul that has refreshed me with kindness on more than one occasion... always making sure that I am well and offering a short "pep-talk" to give me courage. The good man spoke to both pastor Tim and I, offering his usual encouragements and then scooting off back home. Please pray for Brent. He definitely likes what we are all about, but I don't think the man is saved. He's been so great to me, I hope to be able to be a help to him, and I truly hope the Lord will save him.

So like I said, a smooth and good night of preaching... and then 10:30 pm arrived. Just half an hour, but what a miserable half hour it was. A group of people walked by me when I was handing out tracts and one of the ladies made sure to tell me that they all hated me and everything I was about (she actually used the word "hate", and all of them nodded in agreement). Moments later, another woman, after reading my Bible sign said: "I don't believe that 'the wages of sin is death.'"

"You will," I replied.

She didn't appreciate my reply. Oh well...

There were plenty of cruel mockeries, displays of hatred, people shouting at obscenities at us... etc... etc. Suffice it to say that I was watching my watch closely from 10:30 to 11 pm, begging the Lord to keep things from degenerating into violence before we called it a night. The Lord answered that prayer with an affirmative, and I am thankful. Very thankful.

That's it for tonight, dear readers. Thanks again for keeping up with my street preaching adventures. God bless you all!

Have a good weekend and a glorious Lord's Day,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism