Applebees

We stopped in to Applebees the other night for dinner and met a nice waiter named Kevin. When our food showed up, Stephanie told him we were about to pray for our food and asked him if he had anything he wanted us to pray about.

He had had a kidney transplant 2 years ago and was wanting prayer for continued healing.

I asked if he knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He did.

Pray for Kevin, for continued health.

August in Ashtabula

In August Stephanie and I had the privilege of going to North Dakota. I worked in Ashtabula and we stayed in Jamestown.

Jamestown is home to a buffalo refuge and we saw some beautiful white buffalo. Stephanie loves wildlife.

While staying in one of the hotels, my wife met one of the maids and talked to her about the Lord. Like many people, she thought everything between her and the man upstairs was fine.

Pray that God would open her eyes that it is important for all of us to be sure that we are fine with the One with whom we must give an account.

Ephesians 2:17

Recently, my wife Stephanie and I were able to go to Colorado to visit family for the weekend. It was a great time to visit with some of our children and also our 10 grandchildren, three of whom are newborn triplet girls who are here as a result of a miracle of God.

While there, Stephanie had a chance to talk to a young family member about God. She, as a child, has been introduced to spiritism through television and friends. Stephanie had the opportunity to talk to her about the reality of spiritism, and the dangers of it. The young girl re-dedicated her life to Christ, but still doesn't fully understand the danger. Please pray for her that God would help her understand, and that He would also protect her, and strengthen her to stay away from this kind of thing.

I also met a couple of guys on the streets. The first one is named Todd.

Todd was born in Florida in the '40's. His father left his mother when he was only 6 months old.
His stepfather was extremely abusive. Todd's dreams when he was a child was to be either a marine biologist or a hockey player. He left home at 17.

He went through a failed marriage and has 1 son and 1 daughter.

Todd has been on the streets off and on for the past 10 years, and has a problem with alchohol.
He gave his life to Christ this last summer, but the baggage from his past is still there. It takes time to grow. He is also grieving over the loss of a girlfriend to suicide last summer.

Pray that God would help Todd to discover his new identity in Christ and deliver him from the bondage of alchohol and the bondage of the past.

I'm confident that the Lord has a bright future for this man.

The second man I met was Robbie.

Robbie is a Gulf War Veteran. He has an apartment, but is one step away from the streets. He is mad at God because he also lost a girlfriend to suicide recently.

He has never given his life to Christ. I explained to him the "Ticket to Heaven" at the bottom of the blog. He understood what he must do, but is not willing to do it at this time. He's mad at God.

Please pray for him that God would continue to extend grace and mercy to Robbie, and that Robbie would not wait too long to respond.

Tradition vs. Truth

My wife and I have been in northeastern Kansas for the last 3 weeks and are really enjoying it.

Last week I got into a conversation with a man from Houston, Texas. He is hispanic and has a very close family. Whenever he is home, they always make sure to attend church together.

Religious tradition for him has never brought him peace. The peace that we can know by being confident that God is not angry with us. How many there are that spend their whole lives trying to appease God, and are never confident that they have done so.

Concerning the Law, I explained that obedience to the Law was never intended to make God happy with us. The Law is holy, righteous and good, but it was intended to lead us to the cross of Christ. The Law is a mirror that shows us what and who we are, and that we need help.

In order to be accepted by God, we have to be just as perfect as He is. And we're not. We can see that. From as far back as we can remember in our lives, we can see where we have fallen short. And to strive for that perfection now, still leaves our past to be dealt with, because God has always been perfect. He never grew into what and who He is, He has always been the same: perfect.

Hopefully, the Law will take us to Jesus. He is perfect and at the cross dealt with our imperfection. He paid the penalty for that and offers to cloth us in His perfection. Whoever doesn't trust in his own work to appease God and instead trusts God who justifies us through what Jesus did at the cross will find the peace they have been looking for: that God will no longer be angry with us.

Religious tradition teaches us that we must do something to appease God. God tells us that He has done for us what we cannot do. To have peace with God is accomplished through the cross, not our own efforts.

The man I talked to will have to grapple with these two things: what he has learned from tradition, and what God says. I pray that he will clearly see the difference and choose the truth.

Jimmy was collecting cans to supplement his and his wife's income. We talked for awhile and I was able to get some of his story.

Jimmy is 67 years old. He was born in rural Kansas in 1944 and had 2 sisters and 1 brother. He has always worked outdoors in the harvest fields and retired after 30 years working as a cemetary caretaker.

He has 2 sons and 2 daughters. 1 son was put up for adoption when he was a baby, 1 daughter is estranged from him, and 1 son and grandson are close to him.

He grew up in the Methodist church and at some point in his past he accepted Jesus as his Lord and the One who saves him from God's judgement.

His thinking is that he will hopefully be allowed into heaven. He says he won't know until he gets there, but that generally he's been a good person.

I explained to him that as one who has received Jesus as the One who rescues him from judgement, that he doesn't have to hope for the best. Since Jesus is his Savior, his sins have been paid for and God is keeping no record of wrongs on him.

For whatever reason, he wasn't able to grasp this, although I explained it several times.

We prayed together. We prayed that God would heal his relationship with his daughter, reconcile him to his son, and that God would give him clarity of mind to understand that heaven has been given to him as a free gift because he asked Jesus to save him from judgement.

In the summer of 2010 I met a man from India who was Hindu. He had come into the park I was at to meet someone and we started up a conversation.

Part way through the conversation, I asked Robert what he thought about Jesus.

Robert's belief was that everyone has a myriad of gods to choose from and it doesn't really matter which one, as long as you like him, or her. "Live and let live," he said.

I told him that the Scripture teaches that God had at one time overlooked such ignorance, or lack of knowledge, but now that He has revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, He no longer does so.

We had quite a discussion, but He was unwilling to accept that there could only be one God, and only one way.

He got a little agitated with me and finally left the park.

I wonder what happened to his friend?

In June of 2010 I was sitting in a park in Colorado hoping for someone to talk to about the Lord. I was talking to one gentleman about this and that, when a man built like a tank, and a little under the influence of something, stopped by to ask for a dollar. I told him I didn't have one.

He asked me what I liked to do. I told him I liked to talk to people about Jesus.

He threw his duffle bag down and sat down next to me, shoulder to shoulder, and told me that I was going to tell him about Jesus.

The man I was talking to previously decided to get up and leave.

I wished I could.

The aggression was thick, and I prayed that God would deliver me from being pummeled into the ground and being sent to the hospital.

The man next to me asked me who I thought was the strongest man in the Bible. Was it Samson, David, or who.

I told him that it was Jesus.

He asked why.

I said that Jesus took the burden of sin and guilt for the whole world and carried it to the cross. No other person could do that.

We sat there for a few moments, and then I told him that Jesus loved him and cared about what he was going through.

He looked at me and the aggression was gone. He asked me if everthing was okay, and I said yes.

He then got up and walked away.

My prayer is that the Lord will reach this man and give him hope.