Battle Log

It was great to be back on the streets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (today).  Really nice sunny weather!

It was great to have Jermaine join Roger and I at the Bridge of Remembrance on Friday afternoon.  There were a lot of people around.  Actually, a lot of rugby players.  The local team was out drumming up support for the new season about to start.

I was able to start a chat with one of them, and he pulled one of his mates into the conversation.  The mate was resistant, but the original guy seemed impacted as they both heard the gospel.

I saw Roger having a conversation with one of the rugby players too.

Later, a couple of Hare Krishna’s went past chanting.  I’ve tried to engage them in the past, but they wouldn’t stop.  They didn’t stop this time either, but a minute later they paused and called me over!  I wanted to know what they believed, “why should I become a Hare Krishna.  Their brief answers weren’t answers at all, and then they wanted to move on.  I asked if they at least had a pamphlet explaining, one of them said they would bring a free book next Friday - so I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

But the highlight conversation of the day was with a young man walking down the middle of the mall.  He was willing to stop and take off his headphones, but when he realised I wanted to talk about “afterlife”, he rolled his eyes and said he was too high for that at the moment.  Not to be put off, and suggested that now may be a better time than ever, and lo and behold we had a great long chat.  It turns out he grew up in a local evangelical church, and even went to the Christian High School where my church meets each Sunday.  But he had rejected Christianity.  It turns out he is bisexual.  I was able to labour through the law and the gospel with him, and he really seemed to appreciate the chat.  Glory to God alone.

On Saturday, I wasn’t going to head out, as my legs were a bit sore.  But I decided to go anyway.  I set up my flip chart, and it was a bit of a slow start.  I felt like an idiot standing on the corner of Rotherham Street and Riccarton Road, with all the cars going past and not talking to anyone.

I prayed, and just said, “here I am God, use me”.

I went and sat down for a moment, and then looked up, 2 guys were walking past, I said, “hey guys, I have a question for you”, and they stopped, it was a wonderful chat!  One of them was familiar with the church, but wasn’t currently going - he received a wake up call.  But the other guy seemed genuinely impacted and appreciative for hearing the good news.

Soon after they left, an Asian guy called Erik went past, he was curious about the flip chart, and we fell into a gospel conversation.  Before I even get to the gospel, he says, “you're going to say Jesus”.  “Yeah, that’s right”, I say.  I explain why Jesus' sacrifice is our only hope.  And then he stops me and says, with a slightly red face, “Just yesterday I told my friends I don’t believe in Jesus.  And this morning, some things have happened, and now I walk into you”.  His look was one of shock at how perfect the timing was.  He had questions, “Why is God letting these things happen to me?”.  I answered his questions, and then I warned him, and I pleaded with him about the gospel.  I was so encouraged that God, in his perfect timing, would bring Eric to me.  I was so honoured that he would answer my prayer as he did.

Christian, may this encourage you too, as you step out in sharing the gospel!  God uses our feeble efforts for his glory.

I went on and ended up having 6 solid gospel chats over the 2 hours of the outreach.  It was so busy that twice I had people (3 in total) stop to want to talk, but I couldn’t because I was already deep in conversation.

Now, please, don’t join me in this work.  The harvest isn’t ripe, and there are plenty of labourers.  So don’t pray for more.

I mean, there is treasure in heaven to be gained, why should I share my marvellous treasure with you?  I can’t wait to lay my treasure at the feet of Jesus.

Sunday (today) was really interesting.  I turn up at my usual spot at the corner of Colombo and Cashel, and there is a guy there, James, sniffing a bag of glue.  It was a sad sight.  At that very moment, a lady (Tina) walks past smiling at me, but she turns to pour scorn on James.  So, I decided to go and sit beside James and get involved with this conversation.  It was weird watching them gently verbally abuse each other.  She was a druggie, but she doesn’t do glue like James!  So bizarre!  Weirdly, she goes to the local convenience store and buys James a pie and a drink (her good deed for the day I guess).  Anyway, they both take tracts, and I’m able to start discussing the gospel with both of them - but mainly with Tina because she was more sober.  She was very resistant, but I could see I was making some progress.

A crowd draws a crowd, and so a skater, Carl, joins the conversations.  By this stage, Tina is ready to move on, so my focus turns to Carl.  Turns out he used to sniff glue, like James - but he “matured”.  He is a good person now, and, sadly, he fought for his self righteousness.  I was able to labour with him in regards to the law until a distraction occurred and he took the opportunity to skate off.  He ignored my calls - I wanted to give him a tract.

Well, by this stage, Susan had joined me.  I looked up and I saw a Greek Orthodox priest and his friend walking down the mall!  This is an opportunity I couldn’t refuse, so I approached them and we fell into a conversation.  The priest was maybe caught off guard, because he didn’t have any answer as I seeked to find out what he believed.  But his friend interjected and started explaining a story about how the Russian Czar chose the religion for his country!

But then, there was shouting coming from behind me.  I turned to see James the glue sniffer getting into a fight with someone!?  It killed my conversation with the Orthodox guys, but luckily Susan gave the priest a tract.  I went over to try to calm the situation as a crowd started to gather.  The situation calmed down (security turned up), and I was able to start engaging a couple of kids with the gospel, while Susan gave a tract to the guy that was in the scuffle with James.

Whew, such a busy outreach!  Susan and I were now in the shade, and so we decided to head down to the other end of the mall (bridge of remembrance) to the sun.  We handed out a heap of tracts (a crowd had gathered to watch a local busker) and I was able to have a few more short / half gospel conversations.  We finished up with prayer.

I give glory to God for another weekend of gospel opportunity on the streets of Christchurch.  As I write this, I’m reflecting on the parable of the sower that Jesus explained.  Our job is to scatter the seed, I leave all the results in his care.  May there be an increase for God’s glory alone.
 

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