Friday Night Notes

Poor Pete...


Another night of street evangelism in the books! Pastor Tim and I were at our usual post for three hours, preaching the Gospel and handing out Bible tracts to whomever would receive them (sadly, not many did). It wasn't overly cold (-10 Celsius), but cold enough that by the third hour, my toes were quite frozen. Spring can't come too soon!

I was almost done my first 30 minutes of preaching when a police cruiser showed up and parked right across our preaching spot. I had a quick look at the officer in the car to see if he was setting his sights on me, and that's when I got a pleasant surprise: the officer was my old friend, Peter.

Peter and I worked together at the Civic Hospital years and years ago, before he became a police officer. So, when he got out of the car, I called out to him and he recognized me right away. Just like old times, he thought I was nuts to be street preaching the Gospel on a street corner, but he wasn't ashamed to be seen with me (I give him full marks for that, I've seen professing Christians shy away from being anywhere near us evangelists). Last I heard of Peter, he had gotten married, had a couple of kids and a very promising future within the police force. The update I got from old Pete was somewhat less than rosy: his wife left him, his mother died last year, his father had a nervous breakdown, and one of his wife's new boyfriends filed a complaint against Peter, prompting a year-long investigation by his department (the case concluded that Peter was innocent of the charges set against him).

I was dumbfounded. All I could muster was a "dear me, Peter!"

I thought of offering him some admonishment from the Scriptures, but chose not to; Peter knows exactly what I'm about, and he and I had had a number of arguments in the past over the Bible. I figured if he wanted the Gospel, he'd ask. He didn't. I did give him a Bible tract and wrote my phone number on the cover. I told him to call me if he ever needed to talk. We shook hands and Peter was off.

I spent a good part of the night thinking about my poor friend. The Bible says that "the way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4:19). Now don't get me wrong, Peter isn't any worse a man than any other, but he definitely isn't converted, and he has little time for the Lord or the things of the Lord. So he's trying to make his way through life in darkness, with no Guide, no Light to show him the Way. Oh, that the Lord would show him saving mercy!

After my time with Pete, I had a couple of short one-on-one conversations with sinners, as did Pastor Tim. Nothing much to report, the souls we spoke to were favorable to the Gospel but no evidence of repentance. The Lord use our words and the Gospel literature as He sees fit.

Twice tonight a couple of transvestites walked by our preaching spot. The first time, I was preaching and they interrupted me with vile mockery. I ignored them and continued to preach. The second time they walked by, Pastor Tim was preaching and when they interrupted him, the fearless preacher looked at the "men" and said: "You two are perverts! Absolute perverts!" The sodomites didn't stick around to hear more, they walked away yelling obscenities. What folly!

During our final stretch, a man came up to me and said: "Good job, buddy. Keep up the good work." He was probably a believer, but he didn't stick around long enough for me to get acquainted with him. Perhaps the Lord will have us meet again in the future.

That's all for tonight, dear readers.

Dear saints, remember my friend Peter in your prayers...

God bless you all!


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism