Friday Night Notes

they don't understand... will they ever???

I know I've mentioned this before (probably repeatedly), but there are nights of evangelism in the market where the sheer number of lost souls (most being quite happy to be lost) walking around me just totally overwhelm me. Thousands and thousands of men and women, cursing and blaspheming God; many of them looking onto us preachers with obvious disdain and hatred, for no other reason than the fact that we shed light on their evil ways. I'm telling you, there are nights (like tonight), you can almost physically feel the bitter cold animosity the market revelers have for us. It's not all fun and games this street preaching business.

Before going downtown tonight, I went into Pastor Tim's backyard to pick up our Bible signs and wondered where on of my favorite Bible signs was. It had John 3:16 on one side, and 1 Timothy 1:15 in large letters on the other. Pastor Tim informed me that that particular sign was stolen last week while he was preaching the Gospel with brother Rod and Marcio. Young men on skateboards grabbed the sign when pastor Tim put it down but for a quick minute while he was preaching the Gospel. That story annoyed me quite a bit. Not exactly sure what annoyed me most: the fact that these cowards stole a 65-year old's Bible sign, or that I had lost my favorite preaching tool. My night of evangelism wasn't starting out too well!

By the end of the night, Pastor Tim and I both handed a low number of Bible tracts, and one-on-one conversations were few and far between. No, tonight was a pretty lousy night, all and all. We had a street musician come by and set up his "performance" right in front of our preaching spot (an attempt to rid the market of us). We had two lesbians scheming to do our 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 some mischief (I stood close guard, nothing ultimately happened). Even Christians in the market found a way to be somewhat aggravating: a young lady was really curious to know if our "evangelistic method" actually worked (I tried to explain, but I don't think she got it).

Seeing so little fruit in the souls we were preaching to tonight, I started pondering on Hell; the likely final destination for many of the souls we attempted to minister to. I wondered: "Will these souls ever truly comprehend the gravity of their sins against the Living God?" I still wonder, in Hell, will the damned fully understand the gravity of their sin and how the Lake of Fire is a fitting punishment? I'm going to be thinking about this for a few days...

I saw my old friend Richard again tonight, "walking" up and down the same street in an alcohol/drug stupor, begging people for spare change. It was a sad sight. He was near my preaching spot for a couple of hours, but he never came to speak to me, nor did make eye contact. If his mind still functions well enough to remember me, perhaps he felt some shame over his physical/spiritual state. Who knows? The Lord have mercy on his soul.

With that, I close this edition of the Friday Night Notes, dear readers. I want to thank all of you who pray for us on Friday night. You are precious to us!

God bless you all,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism