Friday Night Notes

father... scientist... preacher...


I was preparing to head off to work this morning when I heard my youngest scream and my other kids yelling out: "The baby is bleeding!" Right then and there, I knew it would be a wonderful day.

Turns out, little Joe cut his chin when he had an unfortunate encounter with the kitchen floor. The cut wasn't that bad, but I knew that it would leave a nasty scar if it weren't closed up properly; so I took my boy to the hospital where he received his first two sutures. Watching his freaked out little face, I felt like the Worst-Dad-In-The-World.

After 4 hours in Emergency, I made my way to work. I had lots of work waiting for me there, and I was now 4 hours late! You see, in our laboratory, whenever a long weekend comes around (like this weekend), my workmates usually ask me to set up experiments that have long incubation or analysis times. Most of the instruments at my workplace can function and operate by themselves so long as they are programmed properly. It took me about 5 hours to set everything up; this made me happy because it was only 6pm, plenty of time for me to head downtown with Pastor Tim and do some street preaching!

When I got to Pastor Tim's place, he told me he couldn't make it out tonight; he needed to take more time preparing his Sunday sermon. So I grabbed a good number of Bible tracts, a Bible sign, and made my way to the market.

It was a pretty cool night for the end of July. I regretted all night long that I hadn't packed a sweater or even a jacket before leaving home. I nevertheless soldiered on for a good two and a half hours of street preaching and tract distribution. To keep warm, I took walks around the busy streets of the market with my Bible sign in hand. Lots of people heard or saw something of the Gospel of Jesus tonight.

A number of Christians encouraged me tonight. One woman said: "You're doing a great thing!" Another man just exclaimed: "Praise God!" Another young lady said about the same thing, but had she stuck around I would have questioned her profession: she was wearing very short shorts. Hardly fits with what we read of in 1 Timothy 2:9.

I had a long conversation with a young believer who, in the past, had expressed interest in coming to our church services. It became clear in our conversation that the young man rejected the doctrine of election, so I did my best to explain to him the validity of this doctrine. I don't know if I got him thinking or not, but he did repeat his intention to visit our services soon. I hope he does.

After this long conversation, I preached the Gospel awhile longer at our customary street preaching spot, and then opted to go for a walk to warm up my bones. Turned out to be a great idea because I handed a number of Bible tracts to souls who I walked by; many of them even thanked me for my work. Only one man violently opposed my efforts. The man was in a wheelchair and showed his hatred toward the Gospel my cursing and blaspheming as loudly as he could. The Lord be merciful to him.

After a long night of evangelism, I made my way home, tired and weary from a long day of labour. My wife stayed up to greet me and when we both decided to call it a night, we found the our little girl had snuck into our bed, hiding under a number of pillows and blankets. She probably thought we wouldn't notice her... silly goose.

It's quite the blessed life I live... in all its facets: father-scientist-preacher.

Wouldn't change a thing for all the tea in China.

Have a blessed weekend, dear readers. Remember me in your prayers, I will, Lord willing, be preaching the evening service on the Lord's Day.

The Lord bless you all, dear saints of God.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism