How many people have you shared Jesus with? What happened in the end? Do you know? Is it OK not to know?

I love Hebrews chapter 11 because of the story of faith. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

I have always tried to share Jesus with people I know and love and those who are strangers. Be it Whitney on the road to Slidell, Bob, the guy at the end of the off ramp in Hood River I bought lunch for or Hannah, my oldest daughter. I just believe I should share Christ.

Last summer, I had a conversation with Donny at a summer camp waaaaaay up north. I had a "feeling" that I should take some time to talk to him about how he was doing and how he was growing in the Lord. The conversation went well... He had some doubts and had stopped going to church all together. I told him he needed to reconnect. In the end, I shared with him about a wonderful church plant in his neighborhood and told him to check it out. This guy has some real God talent. When I got back I called the minister who leads this group and told him to "watch for this guy." Well, Donny never showed up and months went by and things moved on. and... I forgot.

In October of last year I saw this Donny in Portland and asked how things were going... He said well and that he had just visited Renovatus. I said, "good." I wasn't sure what that meant, but that's OK. It was good to hear he was finally went. I called the ministry leader, Kevin, and told him about his visitor... However, Kevin was out of town and missed meeting him. :-( And so it goes. It doesn't matter who we are or what we think we are... It's who God is and what He is and what He has planned.

This last week out of the near blue I received this email. It is a wonderful testimony and encouragement so I asked Donny's permission if I could share this email.

Hey I wanted to stop and write to you, thanking you
for putting me in a position to at least think about
going to church again. I'm going to be honest with
you that I didn't ever contact Kevin about going to
Renovatus. I actually was invited by a friend and
from that point on I've been going regularly.
Looking back I remember what my emotional state was
and it was looking pretty dismal. I was very negative
and bitter towards many things in my life and not just
my spirituality. I wrote myself a letter in late
September describing all the things that were negative
in my life and some of my thought processes and I'll
tell you now that it isn't pretty. The letter was
sort of a self-examination/self-reflective discussion
that I had going on in my head and one of the things I
wrote down was: "My spirituality is none-existent, not
because I don't believe that God is real or that He
loves me, but because I don't care. I go to church
occasionally and to Monday night devo at Cascade only
because it's what people want to see and not because
of any desire to be there. I find it easier to live
the lifestyle that says either 'God doesn't exist', or
'I don't care'. This is probably why I'm so angry and
bitter and depressed."
That was in September of last year. Shortly after
that is when I started going to Renovatus and I can
honestly say that it truly has changed my life.
Lately I've gone through another one of those
self-examination/self-reflective discussions and I
asked myself the same questions I asked before.
Questions like, "Why am I in Vancouver? Do I belong
here? What is the purpose of all this? and Why am I
in the situation that I'm in at this moment?" Back in
September the answer was a bitter, costic, "I don't
know and I really don't care." Now the answer is, "I
don't know and I'm ok with that." My attitude about
life in general has changed dramatically and when
people ask how I'm doing I can honestly say that I'm
doing great; I'm doing just fine. And the answer to
this change is the church that I'm involved in.

So I wanted to drop a line saying thank you for at
least pointing me in the right direction. I don't
think I would've stayed there if I didn't sort of
already know about it. So, thank you.

God says, "Have faith..." I say, "What if I die never seeing the promise?" His response, "It doesn't matter, just have faith." And that's it. Share Christ and His promise in everyway. If someone comes back to say thanks, take the blessing and be convicted to press on and continue to share your faith because you are just part of the story. Tell people about Jesus. Let Him do the work. God never promised you would know the end of the story with everyone you've talked to.

Donny's story is wonderful and convicting. It's about God and His unending pursuit of this young man... It has everything to do with me and yet, NOTHING to do with me... Isn't that GREAT! How many other stories are there? I may die never knowing everyone, but that's OK, God never promised I would. So I press on in faith what is promised to me... Live my life and let God shine!

Listen to the Spirit. Who are you talking to today?

peace.
johno~