Battle Log
Wednesday, 24 February, 2021
Posted 24 February 2021, 5:42 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
A hot day in Christchurch on Tuesday. I started my day of outreach in Riccarton. Roger couldn’t join me, so I decided not to bring my flip chart and walk the streets instead. I had many opportunities to engage people with the gospel message.
I had a tract with me that I haven’t used for a while. It has a question on it: “What will matter to you in 150 years time?” I decided to make that question the basis of my approach to people. One lady said: “I want the planet to still be here” - and then she walked off. People grasp that the planet sustains life, but It fascinates me that people miss the deeper problem of death - a problem that has a solution!
I had to buy myself a cold drink, as the heat was surprisingly energy zapping. As I was sipping my drink I was handing out the tracts, and I had a guy stop and engage in conversation. He certainly grasped the deeper problem of death - we even talked about Cryonics for a few moments. He heard the law and the gospel - but didn’t seem convinced. He asked some good questions before we parted ways. He took the tract, and the more in depth one, “After Life”.
I had some good engagements around the bus stops.
I fell into a wonderful conversation with a guy waiting for his bus. He was a deep thinker, and was convinced there had to be a “higher power” before I had even talked to him. Sadly his bus came before I could share the gospel with him - but he left with an in depth tract as well.
Another chat was with a young man who wore a cross necklace (he showed it to me). He said his uncle was a Christian, but he was only half Christian! I had to probe a bit to understand what he meant. It turns out he still wasn’t convinced about the claims of Christ. So going from there, we had a great chat about the gospel. I could see the penny dropping - it was wonderful to watch. He seemed deeply grateful for the chat - he shook my hand multiple times before we departed ways.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I was also online.
One of those conversations was with a girl with a mask and a guitar. I was feeling very lethargic, but I stumbled through the law and the gospel with her (interrupted by her playing me a song). As I was sharing the gospel, I was suddenly interrupted by another voice that said, “that’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard”. The girl had a friend on her phone, and she lifted up her phone so I could see her. She asked if I was a priest! I proceeded with the conversation by asking checking questions, and suddenly the girl with the guitar started insisting she was a good person. Her friend on the phone said: “calm down” and then she disconnected.
The last two chats of Wednesday were intellectually stimulating. The first was a text chat who I suspect was a Muslim, who pretended to be a Christian? I think he was trying to waste my time, but in the process he ended up asking a truck load of wonderful questions and coming to learn so much about Christ. The second chat was with an intellectual guy who started arguing against the obvious reality of God. After a few minutes, I stepped back and asked, “could it be that you’ve been deeply hurt and you’ve wondered why God didn’t stop it?” He paused and agreed, and the conversation automatically shifted to why God allows evil. Sadly, he didn’t stick around. It’s fascinating: I’ve known people to go through immense suffering, and yet it draws them to God - not away. May God have mercy on this guy.