Friday Night Notes

God's strength... made perfect in weakness...

It was an eventful night of street preaching. There is much I could report, but sadly, I don't think I'll get a chance to even scratch the surface...

The night didn't start out too well. The wicked beggar with the guitar was at his post yet again tonight. His persecution is unrelenting. From "singing" little tunes in which he compares us to scammers, all the way to his calling me a pedophile of all things, I must admit, it was difficult to keep a good Christian attitude.

After about an hour of watching souls reject the Gospel (often with mockery), the Lord refreshed me by having a group of eight fellow believers come by with some encouragement. These beautiful brothers and sisters are from and Arabic church in Montreal and were in town on a visit. We had some fellowship time, took a couple of group pictures and they even shared some cupcakes they had just bought from a fancy shop near our preaching spot. It was a real breath of fresh air!

Feeling somewhat energized (could have been the sugar in that cupcake!), my second hour of evangelism just flew by. At that point, I was quite able to block out the mockery and scorn of the guitar player, so the preaching of the Gospel went mostly unhindered. A couple of wicked souls tried to knock our Bible signs down, but I was quite surprised at who didn't try it. I mentioned last week how a disgruntled homosexual had taken the habit of knocking down our signs, and how I stopped him last week... well he was back tonight. He walked up to one of our signs, I stood right behind him, figuring I would have to put a stop to him again. To my surprise however, he read the sign, and simple walked away. Praise God! I hope this is a new, more civilized trend.

The marketplace was quite busy. It's been quite mild lately, so people are more inclined to come downtown for various activities. Pastor Tim and I handed out a fair number of Gospel tracts and hundreds (if not thousands) read our Bible signs. We didn't have a great deal of one-on-one conversations, but who knows what the Lord could still do through those tracts and the Word that was read or overheard.

By the beginning of the third hour of evangelism, I started feeling exhausted. I started praying that the Lord would strengthen me for the final stretch, and decided to run up and down the stairs of the nearby parking garage in order to warm up and stay alert. That ended up being unwise. I came back to my Bible sign feeling weak and disoriented. I struggled, but I managed to finish the third hour at which point I told Pastor Tim that all was not well with me. The good preacher kindly drove me home and I seem to be recovering from whatever ailed me. Not sure what's going on... could be exhaustion... it's been quite busy these last few weeks. A little prayer from my brothers and sisters probably wouldn't hurt (hint... hint...).

Anyway, that is why my notes will be short tonight. I need to rest now. If I can, I may add a little addendum to this post sometime over the weekend.

Have a blessed and safe weekend, dear saints.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism