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down...

Due to illness, I was unable to join Pastor Tim for our night of evangelism.

Remember us in prayers...

Rand

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

Friday Night Notes

one for the powers of darkness...

It was a tough end to a tough week. A number of setbacks throughout the day had me tied up in the lab until 8pm, which means I was over an hour late for street evangelism. When I finally caught up with Pastor Tim downtown, I noticed someone had knocked down one of our Bible signs (seen here). I suppose it was a foreshadowing of how our night of evangelism would go.

As I put the sign back up, I realized that it was our John 3:16 sign. That really struck me. It wasn't the usual 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 sign which often generates anger because it reminds the wicked that their actions are sinful, and those sins will be punished. No, now it's John 3:16 that gets tossed.

It's getting bad out there.

We struggled all night with adversaries who drove us from our preaching spots. A wicked beggar with his awful guitar playing, a deranged man who yelled out obscenities at everyone he laid eyes on, and an employee of a nearby bakery all took turns at mocking and disturbing us to the point we had to walk away. On a couple of occasions, both Pastor Tim and I wanted to stand up for ourselves and show a little fight, but the Holy Spirit kept us from such folly. Not always easy this business of not rewarding evil with more evil.

Nevertheless, we soldiered on. We endured the cold (as frigid wind blew into town around 9pm... it was pretty nasty), tried to not pay any mind at the laughter/obscenities, and preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We handed out a fair number of Bible tracts, and a couple of Christians did come by to encourage us, which is always much appreciated. The Lord use our efforts for His honour and glory, and may he richly bless those who blessed us tonight.

Rand's tough-guy moment of the night: a drunk homosexual that Pastor Tim and I have often dealt with in the past walked past the good preacher as he was teaching. I could tell he was eyeing one of our Bible signs to do some damage, so I made haste and stood next to the sign. When the wicked soul took hold of the sign to knock it down, I swiftly pulled it out of his grasp. He never saw me coming... his shocked look was priceless. He then told me that our sign was in the way, and that if I didn't remove it, he would call the police. I said: "Go for it." He then pulled out his phone, and pretended to look for the number, but after a few seconds he realized I wasn't at all intimidated. He walked away quite annoyed.

Lord have mercy on him.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

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He who finds a wife, finds a good thing...

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