Hello all, I did not realize it has been over two years
since I have added something to my blog. In my defense I have not been completely idle over
the past 24 months. Since my father died several years ago we moved my mom up
to our place and got her settled in. Life is pretty much back to normal. I felt
a desire and spiritual bidding to pick up the pen and jot down some musings and
thoughts that have been backing up in my puny little brain. Although I have not written anything
to post on the blog I have been writing. To date I have four novels in
various stages of completion. The most recent one was started in November for Nanowrimo (National
Novel Writing Month). It was lots of fun.
The goal of nanowrimol is to start in November and by the thirtieth
of the month, have fifty thousand words written. I was able to get a little
over forty thousand words and in loose terms have a completed story. By
completed I mean have a beginning, middle and end. It is far from polished or
ready for reading. I have discovered in the last 9 years that for me, writing is
more fun than editing. I have a couple of things that I would like to get published,
but I have such a hard time getting them to what I consider readable, or saleable.
Anyway, the point is I have been writing.
Changing gears and sharing some of my thoughts, I had the
opportunity to go to our local mall yesterday and share Jesus. It was a church sponsored
event. We gathered at the church got our marching orders and some material, picked
sides and scattered to the mall. I was paired up with very nice man, who had
some experience in the past sharing his faith, but like me it had been a while.
We took off and it was obvious from the way he chattered that he was very
nervous. I was able to break the ice by walking up to a gentleman sitting by
himself and ask him if he would like to answer some “religious questions”. That
was simply a term I felt that he could relate to as well as letting him know we
were from a local church. He smiled and said “No”. We returned his smile and
said “Thanks”.
So with the ice broken we began to cruise the mall looking
for appointed meetings. I introduced myself to several others and was politely denied
the opportunity to talk. We continued on for another ten minutes until my
partner motioned to a gentle man standing by himself. We approached and
introduced ourselves. Apparently led by the spirit my buddy asked, “Do you know
Jesus as your personal savior?” The man was taken aback, but answered “I don’t
know”. Filled with the spirit and nerves my partner began to site scripture and
finally asked “Would you like to accept Jesus as your savior?” Without missing
a beat the man answered “Yes”. So while
I prayed my partner led this man to Jesus standing in the middle of the mall.
We took his name and address for follow-up. We shook his
hand, gave him some material, and said we would be praying for him. We were
energized and continued on. We walked and talked for another hour and a half.
We had some very good conversations with some very interesting people. As we
headed back to meet with our group. We saw a young man standing by himself. My partner felt led to start a conversation
and in his to-the-point style he asked “Do you Know Jesus as your personal
savior?” The answer was very polite but extremely honest. The young man said
that he did not have time for religion. He was too busy with school and soccer
and girls. After a few more questions he admitted that it was not because he
did not believe in God but that he actually felt as if he could not justify a decision
for Jesus because he did not have enough time to give. He felt as if he was
good enough anyway that he probably did not need to do anything else but just
be who he was.
As most conversations go during a time of witnessing that is
led by the spirit it is difficult to remember exactly all that was said and who
said what. But the main topic was the need for a savior due to the bad news that
we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the
wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). But the good news is that all who call
upon the name of the lord will be saved (Romans 10:13) and the God loved him so
much that he gave his only son and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish
but have everlasting life (John 3:16). I
was able to personalize it by demonstrating that it is possible to replace whosoever
with our names. We conversed for a few more minutes and said our good byes. As
we turned to leave, he said “Okay, I will.” We looked at each other and I said,
“Yes no matter where you are you can invite Jesus into your life.” He said “No
I will right now.” I asked him to repeat a brief prayer inviting Jesus into his
heart confessing his sins and thanking him for saving him. He followed along
repeating everything I said and he asked Jesus to come into his life. We took his information for follow up.
The thing I remember most about this young man is, there was
a glow on his face after he prayed. We were very blessed by that experience. It
was a blessing to strike up conversations with other people and listen to them
as they shared their beliefs. We met several Christians and they were very
encouraging and encouraged as well to see other Christians sharing their faith.
There may be some of you reading this
little article that have never heard of what I have been talking about. There
is a link on this page to a place that has a wonderful explanation and
scripture to back it all up. I invite you to follow the link and read with an
open mind. New life in Christ is
possible for all, no matter what you have done or where you have been in your
life. God loves you more than you can image. He loves you so much that He sent
his only Son to die on a lonely cross to pay the penalty of sin for you. Invite
in him to your life today.
That is enough for today, Lord willing I will have something
to share each week. I invite comments and thoughts about anything on this web
site. You can reach me at cliffriff@charter.net.
Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.
